The Avatar's Army
by AudacityofHuge
Summary: Korra and Asami are getting married in Republic City. The wedding is their last hurrah before moving to Ba Sing Se to fulfill their destinies. The Earth Republic's capital city has been overrun with spirit vines and needs the Avatar and her new wife desperately. Nothing is ever easy, but together the two of them must restore balance. A direct sequel to "Chosen's Chosen."
1. The Wedding Planners

**Author's Notes:** I'm back, folks, and I've got another long one for you!

This is something I've been working on for the past couple of weeks and I'm excited to share it with you folks. This story is a direct sequel to my previous fic, "Chosen's Chosen." If you have not read that, you absolutely _must_ read it before you read this. There are many things in that fic that I refer to in this one without re-explaining them.

I know the korrasami mania has sort of died down by now, but I hope enough people are still interested in it to want to read a korrasami fic. If I could have struck when the iron was still hot I would have, but inspiration for this fic didn't come to me until pretty recently. When I wrote "Chosen's Chosen" there were things I threw in that I had always thought might be able to lead in to a sequel, and finally I decided to pick up those threads.

So without further ado, I give you...

 **The Avatar's Army**

Chapter One: The Wedding Planners

A month before their wedding, Korra and Asami had dinner with Varrick and Zhu Li. They had decided to draft the couple as their official wedding planners for two reasons: The first was that Varrick and Zhu Li's own wedding had been impressive and fun, despite the fact that it had been planned in less than a week. And the second was that both Korra and Asami were simply too busy to plan the darn thing themselves. The two of them were moving to Ba Sing Se in just a few short weeks, and Asami had been working twelve hour days trying to get management of the Republic City branch of Future Industries safely and completely transferred to her former foreman Lee Shun. Though she trusted Lee's ability to handle the increased responsibility, she still couldn't help her desire to make absolutely sure everything was done correctly.

And Korra had been spending equally long hours at the Republic City Police Department building, helping the Balance Task Force learn the ways of the spirits and the nature of balance. She, Haku and Jinora had spent innumerable hours with the members of the BTF, teaching them to meditate in to the spirit world, talk to and soothe spirits, and doing advanced bending training with the force.

Both women often came home completely exhausted, and it was all they could to do scrape dinner together before falling in to bed, only to wake up and do it all over again. That was why they had decided to ask Varrick and Zhu Li to plan their wedding, and the boisterous duo had accepted with gusto.

Now the four of them sat in Korra's favorite water tribe restaurant, slurping on seaweed noodles as they discussed the upcoming event. The table in front of them was completely covered in papers, color samples, pictures of flowers, and seating charts. Korra looked over it all with skepticism and said: "I don't know. All this seems really… _big_. Big and expensive."

"Korra, Korra, Korra," said Varrick, shaking his head and making a _tsk-tsk_ noise. "You are the _Avatar_! You _have_ to have a big wedding! It's the social event of a lifetime!"

Beside him, Zhu Li nodded her solemn agreement. "And you're marrying the wealthiest woman in Republic City. It _has_ to be expensive," she said, pushing her glasses up on the bridge of her nose.

"I don't mind paying for it," said Asami to Korra.

Frowning, Korra said, "I can help pay for it."

"Not necessary," clipped Asami definitively. "I know for a fact that the Avatar gig doesn't exactly come with a cushy salary. Look, Korra, we've talked about this. I know you don't like to make a big deal out of things, but this is the one time where it might be a good idea to make an exception. People are going to expect this from us."

Privately, Korra did agree with that much at least. Over the past year since the creation of the BTF, she and Asami had been launched in to the public eye to an extreme degree. Korra was used to the constant presence of the press in her life, but now they had begun to follow Asami, too. With Future Industries funding the BTF and the public announcement of their romantic relationship and subsequent engagement, it seemed like hardly a day went by where one of the two of them wasn't on the front page of some newspaper or magazine.

So yes, they would be expected to have an extravagant wedding. But over the past year, Korra had come to understand one thing above all else, and she voiced it now. "I don't care what people expect when it comes to the two of us, Asami. Our relationship is between you and me, not you, me, and the _Republic City Times_."

"Just because it's a big event doesn't mean it's not still about you and me," said Asami, reaching over to take Korra's hand. "It's still _our_ wedding. I'm not exactly thrilled about it being a big brouhaha either, but I bet that after the wedding is over, all I'll remember about the day is how beautiful you looked and how lucky I felt to be the one who gets to call you my wife. I'm willing to put up with all the annoyance of the wedding ceremony because it's only one day. The important thing is that I get to be with you for the rest of my life."

It had been over a year and a half since Korra and Asami had taken their vacation to the spirit world and become lovers, but there in the restaurant, Korra felt butterflies in her stomach at Asami's words as if their relationship was brand new. Even after all this time, Asami still managed to make her swoon with love almost every single day. She smiled affectionately at her lover. "You do know how to sweet talk a girl," she said. Then she looked at Varrick and Zhu Li. "I guess we're having a big giant wedding, then. Let's hear what you've got."

" _Great!_ " exclaimed Varrick. "You're gonna _love_ what we've got planned! Zhu Li, show them the uh… The thing!"

Happily complying, Zhi Li lifted a heavy binder out of a bag sitting beside her on the floor and plopped it unceremoniously on the table in front of them. Then she and her husband began relaying information and plans in rapid succession, feeding off each other's excitement.

Asami listened with half an ear, looking at the couple with a wistful smile on her face. The two of them had been together for almost exactly as long as she and Korra had. Varrick had proposed to Zhu Li in Asami's office during the battle with Kuvira and they had been married just a few short days later, and after their wedding Korra and Asami had gone to the spirit world and eventually confessed their love for one another. On the surface it didn't seem like the relationship between Varrick and Zhu Li had changed at all since moving from boss and assistant to husband and wife, but Asami had gotten to know the two of them very well over the last year and a half while they worked together rebuilding Republic City. Where there had once been arrogant demand in Varrick's frequent orders to Zhu Li, Asami now saw a grateful reliance in his blue eyes. There was no doubt in his mind any more that he was only half the man he could be without Zhu Li by his side. Though he still made demands of her, they were always demands she herself was eager to follow. They were a team, and now they both knew it.

It was an unusual relationship, but it worked for them. Asami was pleased to see them both so happy. And seeing them filled Asami with hope, because it helped to waylay her misgivings about her own relationship with Korra.

She knew it was silly, but a part of her still wondered if perhaps she wasn't quite good enough for Korra.

Korra deserved a partner who was on her own level. Korra was the whole package—smart, beautiful, strong, powerful, fun, and funny. She was the Avatar, the greatest bender on the entire planet. She was the hero of humanity, destined to protect and serve both humans and spirit alike. She was the chosen partner of Raava, the spirit of light and hope. She was, quite simply, the most important person in two worlds.

And who was Asami? She was a non-bender. She was a businesswoman. She was the daughter of a man who had died a prisoner for unspeakable acts, including the attempted murder of his own daughter. She was… human. Insignificant, powerless, and weak.

Asami shook herself out of her train of thought. She couldn't understand where these thoughts were coming from. Of all the things Asami was, self-pitying was not one. Nothing Korra had ever said to her indicated that she felt this way at all. It was coming from a place deep inside her, a place that still stung with hurt over her father's betrayal. She wondered if she would be thinking about this had her father not attacked her that day over five years ago. She forced herself to think rationally: Korra loved her, and that's all that mattered.

As if sensing her tumultuous thoughts, she felt Korra take her hand again, interlacing their fingers and pulling their hands up to kiss the back of her palm. "What do you think?" she asked, her blue eyes filled with affection.

"I think it sounds lovely," replied Asami, having no idea what Korra was talking about.

"Great," said Zhu Li. "Then we'll go ahead and make the arrangements. Don't you two worry about a thing—we'll take care of everything."

"What about my parents?" said Korra. "They'll need to be picked up and brought to the-"

"Stop worrying about things!" snapped Varrick. "You heard what the lady said!"

Korra and Asami laughed. "Ok, ok," said Korra fondly. "I get the picture. Is that everything then? Are we done?"

For some reason, Varrick and Zhu Li both looked a little uncomfortable. "Erm… Not quite," said Varrick. "There is one more thing. You see, I've been thinking about that idea I had a while back about making a docu-mover."

"No," said Korra immediately. "I don't want to star in your mover, Varrick."

Zhu Li nodded. "We know," she said. "That's why we'd like to make one about you, Asami."

Asami's first instinct was to laugh, but then she saw that not only did Varrick and Zhu Li look serious, but a grin was also forming slowly on Korra's face, as if she might be approving of the idea. "Me?" said Asami incredulously. "Why me?"

"That is a _great_ idea!" said Korra. "She would be perfect!"

"I would?"

"Yeah! You're awesome, Asami. You lead an amazing life, and you're a great role model. People would love to see a mover about you."

"We think so, too," added Varrick. "We've worked with you for a long time, Asami, and we think you've got the stuff. Headstrong, independent, and not to mention you're a real looker."

Asami gaped at him. "Are you going to let him sit there and gush over me like that?" she asked Zhu Li. "He's _your_ husband."

"Of course he is. That's why it's okay for him to gush. I've got the ring, honey," replied Zhu Li, wiggling her left hand in front of Asami's face.

Dumbfounded, Asami could only shake her head. An unusual relationship indeed.

"Look, you don't have to make any decision right away, but we're bringing it up because we'd like your permission to film the wedding. That way if you say yes down the line then we'll have the footage, and if you say no, well, at least you'll have the film to remember your wedding day," said Zhu Li.

Even Asami had to admit that it did seem like a good idea to film the wedding at least. She'd certainly appreciate having a record of the day. From all accounts she'd heard, a woman's wedding day had a tendency to go by in a blur and she wanted to be able to savor the event without worrying that it was going by too fast.

"Alright," she said. "I don't know about the docu-mover, but you can film the wedding as long as Korra doesn't mind."

"I don't mind at all," said Korra with a grin. She winked at Varrick and Zhu Li before adding: "And we can discuss the docu-mover later."

After they had finished eating, Korra and Asami returned to their apartment and changed in to pajamas, then cuddled up together on the couch to listen to the pro-bending match on the radio. Korra reclined with her back against the cushions, and Asami laid against her, her head on Korra's shoulder and an arm wrapped firmly across her stomach. These quiet moments together were like air for Korra; she had grown to need this type of simple intimacy in her life. When she held Asami in her arms like this, Korra could feel the rest of the world and all its troubles fading away. As the Avatar she rarely got to feel as though she were separate from those troubles. Outside of this apartment she needed to be the image of strength and confidence, but here with Asami she could simply be Korra. She didn't have to work to maintain her image because Asami accepted her exactly as she was.

It was something she was immeasurably grateful for. It would be impossible for Korra to express in words just how much it meant to her, but she was certain that Asami knew anyway. She could tell by the way Asami held her so tightly, totally uninterested in moving out of their embrace. It was obvious that Asami intended to sit here like this for as long as Korra wanted, and that she was completely content to do so. Korra turned her head and planted a soft kiss on Asami's forehead, running her hand through Asami's soft black hair. She smiled when she felt Asami sigh happily.

"The wedding is going to be beautiful," said Korra. The match had ended and Korra had reached over and turned off the radio, though neither woman made any move towards getting up from their cozy little cocoon. "I'm glad we picked those two to plan it."

"Me too. Their flair for drama is impeccable. The press will have plenty of great photo ops."

"No kidding. I wonder if they'll really be able to find a hundred turtle-doves to release during the ceremony. I kind of hope they don't. It doesn't sound like a very good idea to have a bunch of birds flying over a large crowd in formal wear. If one of them drops a bird-poop bomb, we might get stuck with the cleaning bill."

"Gross, Korra," laughed Asami. "I can't believe you're ruining our romantic moment by talking about bird poop."

"What's un-romantic about bird poop? Nature is romantic, Asami."

"You're insufferable." Asami reached over and grabbed a pillow, playfully hitting Korra with it.

Korra gave a mock gasp. "Spousal abuse!" she exclaimed. "Marriage really does change people!"

"We're not married yet. Keep it up and we might never _be_ married."

With a mischievous grin, Korra snatched the pillow and held it up threateningly.

"Don't you dare," warned Asami. "If you swing that pillow at me…"

Korra swung, lightly smacking Asami on the shoulder.

"Oh, now you're in for it!" She lunged for Korra, but with a fighter's swiftness Korra jumped off the couch and took off down the hallway towards their bedroom, cackling maniacally. "Get back here!"

Asami chased her to their room, where Korra ran to the other side of their bed, putting it between herself and Asami. When Asami made to go around it, Korra circled around in the other direction. When Asami came towards her again, she reversed her path. Finally, she feigned left but then went right, surprising Asami by attacking instead of retreating. She grabbed Asami around the waist and, with both of them giggling, pulled them both down to the bed. Their laughter died down quickly as Korra pressed their bodies and their lips together, though Korra could feel Asami's smile through the kiss. When she pulled back the smile was still in place, lighting up Asami's emerald green eyes.

"I can't wait to be married to you, Korra," said Asami, reaching up to run her thumb over Korra's lips.

"Me either. I don't know what I did to get this lucky, but I sure am glad I did it."

As she looked up in to Korra's blue eyes, Asami remembered her early musings about her relationship with Korra. It didn't matter what Asami thought of her own worthiness. The only thing that mattered was the depth of the love Asami could see in Korra's eyes. Asami knew without a doubt that Korra's love for her was true and unconditional, and that she felt the same about Korra. That was the base on which they would build their lives together, and anything else could be dealt with as long as they had that solid foundation.

She lifted her head to initiate a kiss, savoring everything about the moment, just as she always did when she and Korra were together. Korra's body and touch was familiar to her, but that didn't stop the thrill that ran through her from head to toe. She couldn't imagine ever getting tired of being with Korra this way.

In the morning, Korra awoke first and spent a long time watching Asami sleep. She noted the way the morning sunlight illuminated brown highlights in her hair, how her hand was curled up close to her face, how her chest rose and fell with each breath, and how her closed eyelids flickered, presumably in response to whatever she was dreaming. Asami's face was calm and unguarded, and Korra thought that although Asami looked beautiful with her make-up on, she looked equally as beautiful without it.

Love for this woman swelled within her and she decided she wanted to do something nice for Asami. She leaned over to lightly kiss her forehead before climbing out of bed and throwing her pajamas back on. Quietly, she left the bedroom and went in to the kitchen to cook up something for breakfast.

The smell of sizzling bacon woke Asami. She was disappointed to see the other half of the bed unoccupied, but it was tempered by the knowledge that Korra was most likely in the kitchen. She rose, put on her bathrobe, and went to find out what her fiancée was up to. Instead of announcing her presence right away, she leaned against the doorway and watched Korra for moment, appreciating the sight of her sleep-tousled hair and pajama-clad form.

This was domestic bliss, thought Asami. Nothing could be better than waking up and seeing her very best friend cooking her breakfast in their kitchen. Finally she crossed the kitchen and encircled Korra's waist from behind. Korra leaned back in to the embrace. "Good morning," she said.

"Good morning," replied Asami. "Are you cooking me breakfast?"

"No, I'm cooking _myself_ breakfast. You can fend for yourself."

"You can't fool me. I know you too well. I think you're doing this for me."

"You caught me," said Korra, smiling and turning in their embrace. "You looked so cute this morning, I couldn't resist."

"Well thank you." Asami kissed her lightly before releasing her and turning to the cupboards to get them both some dishes. "You treat me way too well."

Korra shook her head. "Impossible. You deserve the absolute best, Asami." They sat at the table to eat. Taking a sip from her orange juice, Korra asked: "So are you planning to talk to Lee today?"

"Yeah," said Asami. "We're both going to be at the office all day wrapping up some contracts, so I should have plenty of time to talk to him."

With Korra and Asami moving to Ba Sing Se in just a few short weeks, they had both been preparing to hand the reigns of their respective projects off to a capable second-in-command. For Korra, passing the leadership of the Balance Task Force was going to be a relatively simple matter. Haku Ai, the former representative from the Earth Republic state of Gethen who had relocated to Republic City, was perfectly capable of running the force by himself. He was considered one of the world's foremost experts on spirit relations, and Korra had every confidence in his ability to keep the organization running smoothly.

Future Industries, on the other hand, was quite reliant on Asami's guidance to perform its duties. Over the last couple of years since Harmonic Convergence and the appearance of the spirit vines in the city, Asami herself had become something of an expert on the subject of spirits. In many cases the spirits had only agreed to certain construction projects because of Asami's involvement with it. They trusted her. But now Asami was leaving the Republic City branch of Future Industries in the hands of her construction foreman Lee Shun. Asami had been working closely with Lee over the last couple of months, helping him to learn about the spirits and making sure that the spirits knew and respected him. The last phase of his spiritual education was a trip to the spirit world.

For their honeymoon, Korra and Asami were planning to spend some time in the spirit world. But after a week or so, they wanted to have Lee come and join them so that Korra and Asami could teach him about the spirits in their own homes. It was an idea that Korra and Asami had discussed at length before ultimately deciding that it was the best course of action. Lee didn't know about it yet, but Asami felt pretty sure he would be okay with it. He was eager to learn, and she had been pleased with his interactions with the spirits so far. It looked like they were coming to trust Lee just as they did Asami.

"Good. I know it's going to cut in to our honeymoon time, but I have to admit I'm excited to teach Lee what we know about the spirits," confessed Korra.

"Who would have guessed that teaching would be your calling? From the way Tenzin tells it, you resisted his efforts to teach you airbending with everything you had in you," teased Asami.

Korra laughed. "I did. Remind me to apologize to him the next time we see him." She stood and began collecting their empty plates, and Asami watched her from the table. She knew better than to try to help Korra, who would only shoo her away, claiming that Asami would get in the way while she used waterbending and airbending to clean off their dishes. "Teaching is very rewarding. The BTF is coming along so well, and I'm really proud of what they've accomplished. I'm excited to do the same thing for the BTF in Ba Sing Se."

"We have plenty of things to be excited about, don't we?" said Asami. "The wedding, the honeymoon and the move."

Korra took her hand and pulled her up from her seat, wrapping her arms around Asami's waist. "It's true. But then, I'm excited about every day that I get to spend with you," she said, grinning when Asami rolled her eyes.

"Such a cornball," muttered Asami, but she draped her arms over Korra's shoulders and ducked down for a kiss all the same. "Come on. It's time to get ready. We can't hang around here flirting all day. We need to be responsible adults."

Frowning petulantly, Korra nonetheless followed Asami back to the bedroom obediently. There would be time for kissing later, she reasoned. But a part of her was still grumpy about it; despite living together, Korra sometimes felt as though there wasn't enough time for her and Asami to just enjoy being together. She hoped the upcoming move to Ba Sing Se would fix that. At the very least, they had their honeymoon in the spirit world to look forward to. And twenty minutes later as she watched Asami drive away towards her office and extended her glider to go to the police station in the opposite direction, she found herself doing just that.


	2. The Night Before

Chapter Two: The Night Before

As Korra lay alone in the bed she usually shared with Asami, she wondered just how it was possible that the last few weeks had flown by so quickly, and yet tonight seemed to drag on and on. It was the night before her wedding, and she was spending it alone.

She'd been surprised when Asami suggested they honor the old custom of spending the night before their wedding separate, but she wasn't in the habit of denying Asami anything she asked for. They had both gone to pick up Korra's parents at the dock, but then Asami went across the bay to Air Temple Island and Korra took her parents to Asami's mansion, which they were using to house most of the non-local guests who were coming to Republic City for the wedding. Senna and Tonraq would be sharing a wing with Katara, Bumi and Kya, and even Genly Ai, President of the Earth Republic, had temporary lodgings in Asami's former home. Genly, his husband Therem, Mako and Wu had all arrived by airship that afternoon. Su Beifong was in the city too. Korra had extended an invitation to Toph through the spirit vines, and though she was certain that the message had been received by the reclusive earthbending master, Korra had no idea whether or not Toph would actually show up.

Actually, mused Korra with a wry smile, Toph might already be in the city and Korra would have no way of knowing. Things had simply been too chaotic for her to keep track of everything that was happening. Her day had been spent in a whirlwind of last-minute dress alterations, hair and makeup preparations, and minor logistical problems that people kept coming to her with, despite Varrick and Zhu Li's loud and constant reminders that all logistical problems should be directed towards them. Korra had been approached with questions about everything from seating charts to clean-up plans. Some questions she had been able to answer herself, but she sent most people towards her wedding planners, who were only too happy to help.

It all left Korra feeling sort of dizzy and light-headed, and not just because of how little time she'd had to stop and catch her breath. A part of her still couldn't believe what was happening. She was getting married tomorrow. By this time tomorrow night, she would be able to call Asami her wife.

It felt strange. It felt surreal.

It felt right.

After so many years of doubting herself, of uncertainty and turbulence, Korra finally felt sure that she was making the absolute right decision.

The only part of it that was giving her pause was the event itself. Republic City was in an elevated state of excitement. Avatars don't get married every day, much less to wealthy, well-known, beautiful billionaires. The ceremony itself would take place in the crater where the portal to the spirit world sat, and the entire mile surrounding it was in a state of lock-down. It was expected that people would crowd the streets, hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous couple. In fact, Varrick and Zhu Li had planned for Korra and Asami to ride around in a convertible-top satomobile after the ceremony for exactly that reason. Varrick believed that it would be a good way for the city to bid them farewell. Korra was fine with it, but she wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

She understood why they were doing it, though. Republic City had been Korra's home for almost five years, and she loved this city. And she had come to understand that the city loved her back. So she would just try to focus on that, instead of feeling uncomfortable in the limelight. At least Asami would be at her side for it. Everything seemed easier with Asami by her side.

Like, for example, sleeping. Korra sighed and rolled over to look at the clock. It was approaching two AM, and Korra felt wide awake. She was too excited to sleep. Rolling again to lay on her back, she put her hands behind her head and tried to remember when the last time she'd had to sleep alone was. After some thought she concluded that it must have been those few nights a year and a half ago when she had gone back to Ba Sing Se for two nights to oversee the first ever Presidential election in the Earth Republic. She could remember having trouble sleeping those nights, too.

And before that, she'd spent six months sleeping alone in Ba Sing Se for the constitutional convention. But that had been when her relationship with Asami was brand new. It hadn't been easy by any stretch of the imagination, but after living with Asami for well over a year, Korra was pretty sure it was a feat she would never be able to reproduce. She'd become spoiled.

She sighed in to the darkness, wondering if Asami was still awake, too. Something told her she probably was.

On Air Temple Island, Asami sat on the veranda with a steaming cup of tea, watching the stars, the city lights, and the ever-visible spirit portal across the bay, deep in thought. She looked up when she heard a door slide open farther down on the wooden deck, and she saw Pema step out and slide it quietly closed again. Then she came and sat beside Asami. "Can't sleep?" Pema asked.

"Of course not."

"I don't blame you. I didn't sleep before my wedding, either."

"You didn't?"

"Not a wink. I just had too much stuff going on in my brain."

"Yeah," said Asami with a chuckle. There was a long silence. Asami could hear bullfrogs croaking somewhere nearby, but otherwise the night was still and quiet. Finally Asami asked: "Were you nervous?"

Pema considered this. "I don't know if nervous is the right word. I was excited. But I also couldn't help wondering, _why me_?"

This got Asami's attention. She turned to face Pema more fully, lifting one eyebrow and prompting her wordlessly to continue.

"Tenzin is an airbender, Asami. He was literally the only airbender in the entire world. And who was I? Just an air acolyte, a person invested in a culture that had been dead for a hundred years. I knew he had a large burden of responsibility on him to make more airbenders, and I have to admit that I was worried we would fail. What if we turned out to be unable to have children? Or what if our children were born non-benders? Part of me felt like Tenzin should have waited until he found someone who would be a sure bet."

"Who could possibly be a sure bet, Pema? You're as sure a bet as anyone else in that scenario."

Smiling, Pema said, "Of course I am, but self-doubt is rarely rational." She gave Asami such a pointed look that Asami was a little disconcerted.

"How on earth do you know exactly what's going on in my mind, Pema?" said Asami with a disbelieving shake of her head.

With a shrug, Pema said: "I'm a mother." She reached over and patted Asami's shoulder. "Are you worried about not being good enough for her?"

"It's stupid, I know that."

"But that doesn't stop you from feeling it."

"No, it doesn't. She could have anyone in the whole world, you know?" Asami sighed, turning away from Pema to look out at the city.

"You're right, she could," agreed Pema. "But she doesn't want anyone else in the whole world. She wants you." Asami met her eyes again, and Pema smiled. "You forget, it's not up to you who she chooses. If she thinks you're good enough for her, then you're good enough."

In a very quiet voice, Asami said: "We can't even have children together." She didn't quite meet Pema's eyes as she said this. It was almost like she was ashamed of the thought.

 _Time to squelch that one out right now_ , thought Pema. "Asami, how long have we known each other?" she asked.

Confused, but knowing that Pema's lines of inquiries usually ended up in the right place, Asami gave her the answer. "About five years now, right?"

"Yes, that sounds about right. I was pregnant when we first met, remember?"

"I remember."

"But I've had two children since I first met you, Asami."

Still confused, Asami just stared at her. Pema looked steadily at her, unblinking and unflinching. She could pinpoint the exact moment when her meaning crashed home to Asami.

"Pema…"

"It's true," asserted Pema. "In just five years, you've become just as much a part of my family as my own children are, for all of us. No, I didn't raise you. No, we aren't related by blood. But that doesn't matter to me. That's not what family is about. For me, and for Tenzin, and for all of my children, you _are_ family."

Sniffling a little, Asami pulled Pema in to a warm hug. "Thank you," she whispered.

"You are so welcome, my dear," replied Pema, returning the embrace wholeheartedly. "And any child who comes in to you and Korra's lives will be your children. It doesn't matter how they come to you. It only matters that you love them."

They sat together hugging for a long moment before a quiet voice came floating out from one of the bedrooms behind them. "Can we come hug Asami too?" asked Ikki timidly from where she had her head poked out of the door. She was holding Rohan's hand, and Meelo and Jinora were both lingering in the doorway as well.

For answer, Asami lifted her arm, and soon there was a group hug on the porch the likes of which Asami had never known. She felt loved and happy, and her doubts were once again totally banished. The trepidation left her completely, replaced with warmth, contentedness, and above all, sheer excitement for the coming day. Tomorrow she would marry the woman she loved, and together they would start… no, _expand_ their family.

Asami could hardly wait.

* * *

Before the sun came up, Asami snuck quietly out of her bedroom on Air Temple Island and went across the bay. She left a note on her pillow letting everyone know that she had something to take care of in the city, but that she would be back before it was time to start getting ready. On her way to the cemetery she stopped and bought a small bouquet of flowers. She parked her satomobile in the lot and made her way up the sloping hill, towards the crest where her parents' tombstones sat next to each other on their family plot.

Approaching the graves, she split the flowers in to two bunches, placing one half in front of her mother's stone and the other in front of her father's. Then she straightened up and regarded the immobile stones which marked the final resting places of her only blood-related family.

She did not frequently visit the graveyard. Not only was she a very busy woman, but she often found that her feelings about her parents were too complicated for close scrutiny. It didn't make sense, she knew that, but she found that with all the things that had changed in her life since the death of her father, she hadn't needed to dwell on their relationship too much. In his last days she'd managed to find forgiveness in her heart, and even more importantly, he'd died doing something good for the city. He'd died… to save her.

She remembered vividly that day when her father had forcibly ejected her from the cockpit of their hummingbird machine. If she really thought about it, she could even remember the horrible clanking of the machine being crushed against Kuvira's massive battle suit's body. But she didn't often let herself think about that.

Taking a deep breath, feeling a little silly, she began to speak aloud to her dead parents. "Well," she began hesitantly, "I'm getting married today. I just thought I should drop by and… tell you that, I guess." She paused. "I wish you were here. Both of you. Mom, I wish you could have met Korra. You would like her. She's just… She's the best. I'm really lucky. She's stuck by me through everything that's happened."

 _Everything that's happened_ , she thought. Like the rage that had simmered within her father over his wife's murder, leading him to join up with Amon. Like her own father's betrayal. And like his death. She shook her head, trying to banish those thoughts. _Complicated feelings, indeed._

"I think the reason I'm here today is because I wanted to tell you that I love you, and that I'm happy. That's the bottom line, isn't it? Isn't that what parents always want for their kids? I am really happy." Another pause. "And I wanted you to know that… Even though you both are gone… I do still have a family. I don't know if that's what you would want to hear. Mom, you've been gone for so long I hardly even remember you. And Dad… Well, we both know what happened between us. And I really do forgive you for all of that." She inhaled deeply, straightening her back and shoulders. "But I'm never going to forget it. There will always be a part of me that wonders if the people I love the most are going to betray me. You violated my trust. For a long time I wasn't sure I would even be capable of loving anyone anymore.

"But now I know that I can. I know that I'm strong enough to heal those old wounds. And I know, above everything else, that I can trust Korra. And I can trust Pema and Tenzin, and Bolin and Mako. I have a family again."

She heard a noise behind her and looked around. Some other mourners were visiting a grave nearby, and she could tell by the poorly-hidden sideways glances that they recognized her. She turned back to her parents' stones. "I should get going. Like I said, it's my wedding day. There's a lot to do. I love you both, and I hope that wherever you are, you're happy."

With one last look at the graves, she turned and headed back to the satomobile. The visit hadn't quelled any great internal drama. It hadn't bolstered her resolve, and it hadn't lessened it. It was just something she had felt she had to do.

Perhaps it was best to just leave it at that.


	3. The Morning Of

Chapter 3: The Morning Of

"Now here's something I didn't think I'd ever see," said Korra with a grin. "Is that the President of the Earth Republic cooking breakfast for my wedding guests?"

Genly looked up at her and grinned, and it was a grin she had never seen from him before. It was unguarded, happy, and totally unself-conscious. Korra looked around and was unsurprised to find the other helper in the kitchen, Genly's partner Therem Harth. Ever since the two of them had made their relationship public and gotten married, Genly had been getting happier and happier every day. Though Korra didn't live in Ba Sing Se any more, she still had frequent contact with Mako, who worked as Genly's chief of staff. He had relayed to Korra how Genly had been growing in to his role as President, and how he was successfully managing both his personal and professional life in a way that was respectable and admirable.

Bright and early this morning Korra had left her apartment and flew over to Asami's mansion on her glider. She'd been amused to see the place so lively after the months of it being largely unused. Asami had been letting her household staff have the run of the place—most of them lived there in one of the back wings. Some of them had moved on to other jobs, but a few were still in employment by Asami, and Korra had greeted them warmly as she made her way towards the kitchen.

That was where she had found Genly and Therem, both of them moving around the kitchen as if it was their own. Korra hugged first Genly, then Therem in greeting. It was the first time she'd seen them in almost six months.

"Well, it's not every day that we aren't the most important people in any given building," said Genly with a laugh. "Therem and I relish the opportunity to be second to you, Avatar."

"You're not second to me," replied Korra, a little embarrassed. "I mean, you guys are running a country. Why don't you let Asami's staff cook?"

"Nonsense," said Therem. "Let him have this, Korra. Actually, let _us_ have this! You won't believe how good of a cook he is."

"Is that so?"

"It's so," confirmed Genly with a hint of arrogance. "If I wasn't President, I'd probably be an extremely successful and famous cook."

"Hey!" said an excited voice, and Korra turned to see Mako, Bolin and Opal. The speaker had been Mako, and he rushed forward to hug his old friend. "I was wondering when you'd get here! It's so good to see you!"

"You too," replied Korra, returning the hug and squeezing as hard as she could. "I'm so happy you could make it! It's exciting to have the whole crew here in Republic City again."

Releasing her and holding her out at arm's length to look her in the eye, Mako said: "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Yeah," said Bolin. "What guy doesn't relish the opportunity to watch two of his ex-girlfriends marrying each other?"

Opal and Mako both sighed, shaking their heads.

Bolin ignored them both. He gave a loud yell of excitement and threw himself at Korra, giving her bear-hug and lifting her feet right off the ground. "It's the big day!" he exclaimed. "It's finally the big day!"

"When is Asami getting here?" asked Opal as she too hugged Korra.

"She's not, actually. She'll be getting ready over on Air Temple Island with Pema and the kids."

"Aww, you decided to do the separate thing?" said Bolin, his eyes getting a little misty. "That is so sweet." He took out a handkerchief and dabbed at his eyes. Because he was busy doing that, he did not see his brother rolling his eyes.

"It was her idea. I bet she's regretting it now, though. If she's anything like me, she won't have gotten any sleep at all," laughed Korra.

Together the group moved towards the kitchen and began to mingle and chat as they prepared breakfast. Soon they were joined by Korra's parents, who each hugged their daughter with wordless but significant looks. Without any of them saying anything, Korra understood the emotional currents running through them.

Before Korra knew it, she was seated in front of the mirror in Asami's old bedroom, watching as her mother carefully brushed her hair and began to style it. Her father was sitting nearby, quietly observing the two most wonderful women in the entire world, in his humble opinion. After a long moment of silence, Korra caught his eye and smiled. "You're staring, Dad," she said.

"I'm sorry. You two are both so lovely." He stood from his seat and moved instead to sit on the edge of Asami's desk, facing his daughter and his wife. "There's something your mother and I want you to know, Korra."

"Okay," said Korra. She'd been anticipating her parents saying something to her, and she was grateful they were choosing to do it _before_ she'd put her make-up on. It would have been a real pain have to re-do all that work after crying the inevitable tears her parents would surely cause.

"When you were a newborn, you were normal," began Tonraq.

Korra stared at him. She didn't know what she'd expected him to say, but that definitely wasn't it. "Okay…" she drawled slowly.

"Just listen," he said, reaching out to pat her hand. "When we brought you back from the healer's hut, you were just our daughter. You cried a lot. You almost never slept through the night. You were a fussy eater, and as long as you were awake, you were moving. Sometimes you actually managed to get entirely outside the igloo before we even realized you were missing. We were young, your mother and I. We didn't have any experience in parenting. Those first two years were exhausting for us."

Senna came around to sit next to her husband, also facing her daughter. "But we loved you so very much. Right from the very first second, we discovered what it meant to truly love someone more than life itself. We would have endured any amount of temper tantrums from you, because you were our daughter, the love of our lives." She reached out and brushed back Korra's bangs. Her touch was familiar and comforting to Korra.

"And then, one day, you could waterbend," said Tonraq. "I remember it well. You were crying, and I simply could not figure out why. You didn't want a bottle, you didn't need to be changed, and you wouldn't suck on your pacifier. You were just crying. But then, while I was stoking up the fire and had my back turned, you suddenly stopped crying. It freaked me out," he admitted with a chuckle. "I spun around so fast that I knocked a vase over. I thought the vase must have been filled with water because there was a huge puddle on the floor. But then I saw the water rising up and in to your crib and realized it had come from a cup on the table. You doing a messy job of it, but you were bringing yourself the water because you were thirsty. I'd tried a bottle but it hadn't occurred to me yet to try water. After that, we knew you were a waterbender. We were happy for you. Waterbenders are honored members of our society, as you know."

Korra nodded.

"But then," continued Tonraq, "you began to earthbend." He swallowed audibly. "And not too long after that, you could firebend."

He paused, looking over at his wife. She reached over and put her arm around his shoulder, encouraging him to continue. Korra looked back and forth between the two of them.

"We knew that you… That you were the Avatar." He looked down at his hands, which were clenched in to fists. "We were… Terrified, Korra. We were absolutely terrified."

"Why?" asked Korra quietly, tears building in her eyes.

"Because everything we'd thought about for your future changed. We had started saving for your education already. We had envisioned a long and happy life for you in the South Pole with us. We loved you so much, but suddenly you weren't just our daughter any more. You belonged to the entire world. We'd been preparing to be your hero, your protector, your rock. But instead, _you_ were destined to become that for _us_."

"But you _are_ all those things for me," objected Korra. "You know that, right? I could never do the things I do if hadn't had you two to support me."

Senna smiled at her. "We know that now," she said. "But we didn't know it at first. At first when we discovered that you were the Avatar, we were worried that we weren't important enough to be your parents."

Once again, Korra found herself staring at them. "What? What does that even mean?"

"Well, the Avatar is supposed to be a pillar of wisdom and strength for the world. Where were you supposed to learn those qualities? From us? It seemed like a huge, daunting task," said Senna.

"We didn't know about the White Lotus then," added Tonraq. "Everyone sort of knew that Avatar Aang had died and that there would be a new Avatar born soon, and that the new Avatar would be of the water tribe. But the world hadn't seen a new Avatar in over a hundred years. No one was really thinking about it. Certainly your mother and I hadn't thought about it. It seemed very separate from our lives. We were just humble water tribe folk."

"So what happened?" asked Korra. She couldn't believe she'd never thought to ask them about this before. Of course she'd heard the story of her first contact with the White Lotus as a chubby toddler; the patched hole in the wall of their igloo was reminder enough of that incident. But she'd never considered what it must have been like for her parents to realize their only child was the Avatar.

Tonraq shrugged. "Nothing happened," he said. "We contacted Katara, and Katara contacted the White Lotus. They came and started teaching you to be the Avatar. Life went on. You were still our daughter, headstrong, stubborn, and hyperactive. Gradually, we came to understand that the fact that you were the Avatar changed absolutely nothing about our love for you. Of course some minor things changed; instead of coming right home after school, you had to go and train with the White Lotus. And because you could earthbend, if you ever got mad and stormed out we had almost no chance of ever finding you if you didn't want to be found. And you were constantly setting things on fire accidentally."

Korra grinned sheepishly. She could remember plenty of _those_ occasions.

"But all those things weren't really any different from what we'd expected from having a growing daughter under our roof," said Tonraq. "We adjusted, and we moved on."

"And we watched," said Senna. "We watched you grow in to a capable young woman, and a powerful bender. And then, the day we had always dreaded finally came."

Korra instinctively knew the day she was referring to. "It was when I asked to be sent to Republic City," said Korra sadly.

"Yes," said Senna. "From the moment we learned you were the Avatar, we knew there would come a time when your destiny would take you away from us, and we would have to let you go."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, sweetie," said her mother. "It's just another part of being a parent. Eventually, you have to let your children go."

"Of course, not every parent is sending their child off to life-endangering situations, but that's what comes with the Avatar gig," said Tonraq. "And even in those situations, you've been exceptional."

Giving a little snort, Korra waggled her hand in the air. "Sometimes. Sometimes I've been pathetic, too."

Tonraq reached out and took her hand. "You've always done the best you could. And the important thing is that you're embracing your destiny. We can't always help you in those situations, and we're terrified of what could happen to you, but Korra, this is what your mother and I want to tell you today. On your wedding day, we think it's important that we tell you just how proud we are of you."

Senna took Korra's other hand, nodding in agreement. "We've watched you grow from that little baby to an adult, a person who is considerate, compassionate, and responsible. Today, Korra, you're leaving us again. When you get married you are no longer your own person. You're part of a team. After today, instead of leaning on us, you and Asami will lean on each other."

Frowning, Korra squeezed her mother's hand. "Maybe, but that doesn't mean I won't need you guys anymore."

"No, it doesn't," her mother agreed. "But it does mean that our relationship will change. It will grow, just like how you've grown."

"And honestly, Korra, we're looking forward to it. Just like how we learned to love you as the Avatar, we'll learn to love both you and Asami as a couple." Tonraq flipped Korra's left hand over, touching the ring on her finger. "Your mother and I want you to know that we think you've made a wonderful choice. Asami is a treasure. We know everything she's been through, and everything she's done for you. This past year, it seems like every time we see you or hear from you, you're even happier than you were before. And we know it's because of Asami." He started trying to say something else, but his voice hitched in his throat. When he managed to speak, his voice was rough with emotion. "Korra, do you realize how incredibly joyful this makes us? Do you realize how much we hurt when you came to us after being poisoned? Can you understand how difficult it was for us to see you that way? It was agony for you, and it was agony for us. Our strong, brave little girl… You were so defeated, and we had no idea how to help."

Senna was crying silently, and Korra wasn't far behind.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Tonraq asked: "Asami brought you back, didn't she?"

Not trusting her voice, Korra just nodded.

"Not even physically regaining your body and your Avatar spirit was enough to save you. You weren't saved until she reached in and pulled you back."

With a watery smile, Korra said, "She does it all the time. I don't know how, but she does it all the time."

"Then we owe her more than we can ever repay. She gave us our daughter back." Tonraq returned Korra's watery smile. Then he got to his feet and pulled both Senna and Korra to theirs. He wrapped one arm around each woman in a three-way hug. "So finish getting ready, because there's a woman out there waiting for you, and we're pretty eager to get her in this family as soon as humanly possible."

Korra laughed. "You've got it, Dad."

"We love you so much, Korra," said Senna.

"I love you, too."

There was a very, very soft knock on the door, and Korra called for them to come in. Zhu Li poked her head in, as if trying to be as un-intrusive as possible by leaving her body outside the room. "Sorry to interrupt, but the stylist is here."

"Bring her in," said Korra. "Let's do this thing."

Zhu Li smiled. "Do this thing? I think we can manage that."


	4. The Wedding

Chapter 4: The Wedding

Varrick surveyed the seating area, walking along its perimeter and inspecting it from every angle. A small group of timid-looking staff members followed just behind him, holding clipboards and pens, ready to take orders.

"The carpet is lumpy!" snapped Varrick, and one of his staff members darted off to fix the problem. "Straighten out this aisle!" Another aide left the group. "Set up a couple of cameras on either side here!" Two more aides left. Only one person was still following him, and Varrick spun around to glare at her. She jumped in surprise at the sudden movement. "The altar looks perfect! You did a great job. Take a breather!"

The aide collapsed in to a nearby chair in relief.

Varrick didn't seem to notice. He made his way towards the edge of the crater, where a ramp had been lowered to allow guests easy passage in to the vine-carpeted area where the Avatar would be getting married in just a few minutes. Guests were streaming in and being led by well-dressed ushers to their assigned seats. Varrick smiled politely to each of them, but he really only had eyes for one person, a woman who was just making her way down the ramp towards him.

"How did it go?" he asked when his wife joined him.

"Everything is absolutely perfect. The Avatar is all dressed up and ready to go. How about you?"

"We've got one seating area, one altar, and one beautiful CEO. Honey, I'd say we did a _spectacular_ job here!"

They high fived each other. "We make a great team, sir," said Zhu Li with a smirk.

"You don't have to call me sir any more, Zhu Li. At least, not in public, anyway," he added, waggling his eyebrows.

The guests continued to file in. All of the most important people in the city were here, including President Raiko and the members of the city council. There were people who were celebrities for other reasons, like the great earthbending master Toph Beifong, who was shorter than both of her daughters but stood between the two of them with just as much confidence and poise. Near the Beifongs were the members of Republic City's Balance Task Force, wearing their crisply pressed uniforms in honor of their teacher, the Avatar herself.

On the other side of the aisle sat Lee Shun, Asami's second-in-command at Future Industries. He was making polite conversation with Mako's grandmother, who seemed interested to hear about the business which had raised the money to build the mansion in which she had her family had stayed after things in Ba Sing Se had fallen in to chaos four years earlier. As Varrick watched, they were approached by the President of the Earth Republic, Genly Ai. The old woman shook his hand excitedly—apparently, it wasn't just royalty she loved. Not too long after that, the former Prince Wu came to greet the old woman with whom he had briefly shared a residence in Asami's mansion.

But in addition to people who were important and well-known, also present were people who had no notoriety themselves, such as a crazy-looking homeless man named Gommu who Korra and Asami had absolutely _insisted_ be given a seat for the ceremony. He was wearing a tinfoil hat and was missing both of his front teeth, and other guests were giving him sidelong glances. But then Bolin, who was going to be officiating the wedding and was already standing near the front, noticed him and came over to greet him. After this, the other guests were more polite to him. Varrick was sure it had been a plotted move on Bolin's part. _People tend to underestimate that kid_ , he thought, _but I know that he's got a lot more to him_.

And there were spirits, too. Many, many spirits. They were lingering on the outskirts of the seating area, but it was clear that they were intending to stay for the duration of the ceremony. Only one spirit was mingling among the humans: The blue fox spirit named Ao, who was sitting patiently by Haku Ai's side. The two of them were rarely separated. Haku was wearing a deep blue suit that matched well with the powder blue color that Haku's hair had been turned by that very same fox spirit.

People lingered and loitered for a little while before going to their seats. Then somewhere above the lip of the portal there was a long, solid trumpet note.

It was time to start. As the music began to play, everyone rose from their chairs.

The airbender children came first, wearing the traditional formal yellow robes of the air nomads. Jinora held tightly to Rohan's hand as he wobbled along, a little unsteady on his feet on the uneven surface of the vine which was the aisle. People chuckled at him as they passed. Behind those two came Ikki and Meelo. Ikki walked politely, but Meelo kept pausing to flex his arms for the spectators. They went to take their place on the left side of the altar.

There was a collective intake of breath when Asami came down the ramp, escorted by Tenzin on one arm and Pema on the other. Asami was radiant. Her black hair was pulled up, though loose tendrils fell stylishly across her face. Her long, sleeveless white gown trailed behind her as she slowly made her way down towards the altar.

 _Don't trip, don't trip, don't trip_ , she repeated internally as they walked. When they reached the altar, she stood on her tippy toes to kiss Tenzin's cheek, amused to see his slight blush. Then she turned and hugged Pema before continuing on her own to stand right in front of Bolin, watching the next two people coming towards her.

Mako and Opal proceeded down the row arm-in-arm. Mako was looking dashing and comfortable in his formal suit, and Asami guessed he must be very used to dressing well after serving as such a high-ranking government official for over a year. Opal had chosen not to wear air nomad formal robes. Instead she had worn a simple dress in a light blue that brought out the color of her eyes. Even through her fog of anticipation and joy, Asami saw Bolin staring openly at her and couldn't help but smile.

And then, her heart gave a funny lurch, as if it couldn't decide if it wanted to leap out of her throat or pound right out of her chest.

There was Korra, dressed in a simple white draped dress, looking more beautiful than anything Asami had ever seen. Korra was escorted on either side by her parents, and she kept eye contact with Asami as she walked.

It was a relief for both of them to see each other. Though it had only been one night since they'd separated, it seemed like much longer. Korra suddenly understood that the tradition of spending their last unmarried night alone wasn't about the night before, it was about this moment they were experiencing right now. It was about the reunion. It was about knowing that for the rest of their lives, they would never be alone any more.

In front of the altar, Korra hugged both of her parents and they went to their seats. When Korra turned back to Asami, she smiled to see her holding out her hand in invitation. Korra took it and joined Asami, and they turned to face each other in front of Bolin.

"You may be seated," said Bolin, and there was a rustle as the guests complied. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are here on this fine afternoon to unite Avatar Korra and Asami Sato in wedlock. The couple has prepared their own vows, but I'd like to start us off by saying a little bit about these two women." He cleared his throat. "Everyone knows these two. How could you not? Korra, the Avatar who reunited the two worlds. And Asami, the woman responsible for the beauty of the city around us. But to me, they are two of my very best friends. Together we have saved the world and looked good doing it. I've watched the journey that has brought us to this day, and I couldn't be happier for the two of them. Their love is a constant source of inspiration for all who witness it, and a wonderful example of how two people, each strong in their own right, can reach even higher heights of greatness through the power of love. Korra, Asami, I love you both, and I'm honored to share in this special day with you."

Korra and Asami both smiled at him, teary-eyed. "Thank you," mouthed Asami silently.

Bolin inclined his head in reply. "And now, the couple will recite their vows. Asami, would you like to begin?"

"Yes," said Asami. She squared her shoulders, looking in to Korra's eyes. "Korra," she began, "when I first met you, I knew you were special. I knew you were the Avatar, I knew you were a talented bender, and I knew you were totally in to my boyfriend."

Korra and their audience chuckled.

"But I was immediately intrigued. I never disliked a single thing about you. As time went on, I learned more about you. I learned you were brave, kind, and compassionate. I learned you were strong, confident, independent and a whole lot of fun to be around. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. Soon you were my very best friend, the best friend I'd ever had. We started to rely on each other, and I loved having you in my life. And then, I just loved you. As I grew to understand you, I fell deeper and deeper in love with you.

"I think I know you pretty well after all this time, but I find I'm still just as eager to learn about you as I was the first time I saw you. Korra, I vow to never stop getting to know you. I will always be there to understand you, to know you, and to love you."

What Korra really wanted to do at that moment was sweep Asami into her arms and kiss her, but she forced herself to stick to wedding protocol. Instead, she squeezed Asami's hands. Asami squeezed back.

"And now, Korra?" said Bolin. Korra glanced at him. She'd been so focused on Asami that she'd completely forgotten he was standing there. But now she understood that it was her turn.

"Asami," she said, "we've never really talked about why I wanted us to get married standing here in front of the spirit portal, but I think you probably understand without my having to say anything. When we came here after this portal was first formed, we began a journey together. Our travels since that day have led me to share things with you that I never thought I'd share with anyone."

Asami understood that this was a reference to a very private moment the two had shared many months ago in Ba Sing Se, when Korra had used energybending to connect their spirits and introduce her to Raava, the Avatar spirit. Standing there on the altar, Asami felt that rush of warmth again, remembering how humbled and awed she had felt.

"We've become connected," continued Korra. "In you I've gained something that has made me a stronger Avatar, and a stronger person. I've gained a team. A partner who I trust completely. You've supported me through some of the toughest things I've ever been through. No Avatar could ask for a better partner. You're selfless, brilliant, resilient and resourceful.

"Asami, I vow to always be to you what you are to me. I'll be your partner. I'll be with you on all the best days and all the worst days. I'll always be there to support you."

The two of them grinned at each other with matching tears in their eyes. Beside them, Bolin reached up and wiped his own eyes with a handkerchief. "Do we have the rings?" he asked, sniffling.

Mako stepped forward and placed the rings in his brother's hands. Bolin handed one to each woman.

"Asami, place this ring on Korra's finger and repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring, I thee wed," repeated Asami, never taking her eyes off Korra's.

"And now Korra, place this ring on Asami's finger and repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring, I thee wed," repeated Korra. As she did so, a tear rolled down her cheek, but she didn't even notice it.

"By the power invested in me by the United Republic, I now pronounce you married. You may kiss the brides."

Korra threw her arms around Asami, finally free to do what she'd wanted to do since she'd first laid eyes on Asami in her white dress. The kiss felt like finally taking a drink after days in a desert. It felt like a promise. It felt like home. Raava's warmth seemed to roar through Korra, a feeling which was remarkably similar to the way it felt to be in the Avatar state.

Gradually they became aware that the audience was clapping and cheering. There were some loud bangs and they realized Varrick must have set off some fireworks somewhere. Separating hesitantly, they turned to the guests and bowed, then made their way down the aisle together, hands clasped tightly. The rest of the wedding party and most of the guests followed them.

Asami's satomobile was parked just over the lip of the crater and Zhu Li was standing near the door to the back seat, ready to open it for Korra and Asami. The happy couple mingled for a few minutes with the exiting guests, accepting hugs and congratulations. Then they climbed in to the back seat of the satomobile to make the brief publicity trip around the city that Varrick had insisted on before heading over to Air Temple Island for the reception.

It quickly became apparent to Korra that she'd been a fool to object to the more public parts of the wedding about which she had been so apprehensive. With her current foggy state of mind, she barely even noticed anything that was going on around her. The only thing that seemed real to her was Asami's hand clenched tight within hers, and the huge smile that seemed to have been permanently pasted on Asami's lips.

Indeed, Korra was surprised when she looked around and saw they were already at the docks. It seemed like only seconds had gone by. They climbed out of the satomobile to meet with Varrick, who had been following in a car behind them with his video crew, filming the publicity run. "That was perfect, ladies," he said.

"Oh, good," said Asami with obvious relief. "To be honest, I'm not exactly conscious right now. I have no idea what's going on."

Korra laughed. It wasn't the first time she'd heard Asami give voice to the exact same thoughts that were going on in her mind, and she was certain it wouldn't be the last.

The two of them took a small speedboat to Air Temple Island, and the guests who had been invited to the smaller, more personal reception on the island followed behind in a larger yacht. Soon they were in the stone courtyard near Tenzin's home, surrounded by talking and laughing people. The festivities quickly entered their full swing.

This was the part of the evening Korra had been looking forward to the most during the planning stages of the wedding. She loved her friends and family dearly, and she'd been excited by the prospect of having an opportunity to party with them all before she and Asami left for Ba Sing Se. However, now that the time to party had actually arrived, she once again realized how wrong she'd been. All she wanted right now was to be alone with Asami, her new wife.

She looked across the courtyard to Asami, who was ostensibly having a conversation with President Raiko. But when Asami caught Korra's eye, they wordlessly understood one another—they each wished they could skip this part and go right to the honeymoon.

 _That's my wife_ , thought Korra incredulously. She absently rubbed the ring on her left hand, feeling as though someone had knocked her upside the head. She wouldn't have been surprised to see little cartoonish stars floating around her head. _We're actually married!_

As Korra watched, Bolin approached Asami and said something which made Asami laugh and Raiko frown in annoyance. The President excused himself and walked away, leaving Bolin and Asami standing alone together.

"I'd like to give you my wedding present now," said a voice right next to Korra, and she jumped in surprise. Mako was standing there holding a glass of bubbly champagne. She'd been so focused on Asami that she hadn't noticed him approach.

"You don't have to get me anything, Mako," replied Korra honestly. "After all, if it wasn't for you I might not have gotten to become friends with Asami."

"That's true, but I still wanted to get you something. Bolin and I both did."

Korra raised an eyebrow at him. Across the courtyard, Bolin was still talking to Asami. "What's going on here?"

Clasping his hands behind his back, Mako tried to look as innocent as possible. "Oh, nothing much. But I thought you might like to know that your luggage has been moved down to Asami's speedboat for you, and the boat is tethered just down there." He jerked his head in the direction of a stone staircase behind Tenzin's house. It was farther back from where the party was being held, so there was no one standing near it.

A grin grew on Korra's face. She could see a matching expression on Asami's. "It has, has it?"

"Yep. And you know what else? I just noticed that the air bison pen was left open accidentally. I sure hope they don't decide to come over here and crash your party."

Bolin walked away from Asami, heading right towards the air bison pens, and Asami began to nonchalantly head in the general direction of the staircase Mako had indicated.

"So what do you think? Do you accept our gift?"

"Mako, I think this might be the greatest present anyone has ever given me. Thank you so much." She reached up to hug him around his shoulders, planting a kiss on his cheek. "I love you."

Returning the hug, Mako said, "I love you too, Korra. Have fun in the spirit world. I'll see you soon in Ba Sing Se. Give Asami my love."

"I will," said Korra. She turned and began to walk towards the staircase as well, smiling politely at everyone she passed.

Suddenly there was a murmur from the crowd in the courtyard. Several guests were staring up at the sky, pointing at something. She looked up and saw that some two dozen air bison were hovering over the party. They landed on tables and started eating all the food, making a huge mess. Several of them were nuzzling their heads against the party guests, seeking affection. People everywhere groaned in disgust as the bison licked them happily, soaking their nice clothes and perfectly-styled hair in air bison drool.

Smothering her laughter, Korra used the diversion to slip over to Asami, who was standing at the top of the stone steps. She, too, was suppressing her laughter, her hand pressed against her mouth. Her shoulders were shaking with the effort.

"I love our friends," she said when Korra joined her.

"So do I. Let's get the heck out of here," replied Korra. She took Asami's hand and they went down the staircase. No one but Mako and Bolin noticed them leave.

They stopped off briefly at their apartment to change out of their wedding dresses before heading over to the crater. The streets of the city had emptied out by now, and all was dark and quiet. They left the satomobile parked in a nearby lot and walked down the ramp that had yet to be removed from the crater.

Bathed in golden light, in a moment that was distinctly familiar, Korra and Asami walked hand-in-hand through the spirit portal.


	5. Honeymoon

Chapter 5: Honeymoon

"I feel kind of bad about abandoning the party," admitted Asami several hours later as they lay together on a blanket under a canopy of stars. "What kind of jerk sneaks out of their own wedding reception?"

"This kind," replied Korra unapologetically, tapping her own chest. "I told you this wedding is about you and me. I wasn't getting to spend enough time with you at the party, and it's _our_ wedding day. We only get the one. Besides, it's not like we're never going to see those people again."

"That is true." Asami rolled to her side, wrapping her arm around Korra's midriff. "We're married now," she said quietly. "Can you believe it?"

Korra tipped her chin up with her left hand, planting a soft kiss on her lips. "Not really," she murmured. "But I've got this ring now, so it must be true."

"Your vows were beautiful."

"So were yours. How long did it take you to write them?"

Smiling, Asami said: "About five years. It wasn't hard. I just said the things I've always thought about you." She laced her hand through Korra's, admiring the ring on her own finger.

"You're so sweet," said Korra fondly. There was silence for a moment as Korra sifted through the last twenty-four hours of her life. It had been an incredible day, but she found herself feeling relieved that it was finished. "The wedding was great, but I'm glad it's over. Now we can get to the good part."

"The honeymoon?"

"No, the marriage itself. I didn't marry you to have a party or take a vacation. I married you to spend my life with you. A wedding is one day, but what we get from it is all the days that come after."

Asami raised herself up on her elbows to look down at Korra. "Now who's sweet?"

"Just trying to rack up brownie points with my wife. If marriage really does change people, then I'm sure we're headed towards some really big fights."

"Are you planning to change?"

"Oh, yeah," said Korra flippantly. "Now that I've got you locked down, I plan to stop pulling my weight in this relationship. I kinda just wanted a sugar mama. Hope that's okay."

"That's fine. I really only wanted you for your body, anyway."

"And the prestige, right? I mean how many people can say they're the Avatar's wife?"

"Just me, if you know what's good for you."

"Katara could say it, too," said Korra, and then immediately regretted saying it. She and Asami gave each other a horrified look. "Can we forget I just said that?"

"Yes, let's do that," said Asami, shivering. She placed her head back on Korra's shoulder, absently running her fingers up and down Korra's arm. "It's pretty strange to think that you had all these past lives. People say I have an old soul, but it's not nearly as old as yours."

Korra shrugged. "I'm not connected to those lives anymore, remember? Now it's just little old me up here." She tapped her own forehead.

"Hmm," said Asami, a noise that Korra had learned meant that Asami neither agreed nor disagreed with what she'd said. Usually such a noise indicated that Asami had more to say on the subject, but was still piecing together her thoughts. And just a moment later, Asami said: "You connected with Aang. Before the constitutional convention, you said you got a vision from Aang."

"It was just one vision. It didn't mean anything."

"But you did. You connected with him. Right?"

With an indulgent smile, Korra said: "Right."

"So it's not just you." Asami moved her hand to the edge of Korra's shirt, picking nervously at the fabric. "There was something else, too. Something neither one of us likes to think about or talk about, but we can't pretend it didn't happen." She looked up at Korra. "When we were in the Tree of Time, after… After I blew up that cutter. I don't remember much about what happened, but I know there were visions in that tree, visions that _you_ projected."

Korra blinked, remembering that painful moment. She'd been so worried about Asami, she hadn't even stopped to think about what she'd seen in the ancient bark of the Tree of Time. There _had_ been images there. Raava had presented Korra with memories _from her past lives_. "Wow," said Korra. "You're right. I've never thought about that before."

For a long moment they sat in silence. Crickets chirped as the night grew thicker around them. Asami waited for Korra to say something else, but she seemed to be deep in thought and no words were forthcoming. "Tell me what you're thinking," she finally said. "I know enough to realize those images came from Raava, but I can't even begin to understand what that means for you. You have to share it with me."

"No, I know," said Korra apologetically. "Honestly I don't know what it means. Your guess is as good as mine. Do you think it means Raava is still connected to those lives?"

Asami remembered talking to Katara on the phone over a year ago and telling Katara that Korra had received a vision from Aang. She'd told Katara that she thought it meant that Korra was still somehow connected to her past lives. It had never occurred to Asami that Korra might not have made that same deduction. She decided right then and there that she would never again assume a separation in knowledge between herself and Korra when it came to matters of the spirits. If Korra believed her opinion was valid, and her own beliefs on the subject seemed logical, she would never refrain from offering her thoughts on this topic again. "Yeah, I do," she said to Korra. "I've thought that since that very first night when you told me about Aang's vision."

"Huh," said Korra. "Well how about that?"

"Korra," said Asami haltingly, "we're in the spirit world."

Korra stared at her. "Yeah. I know."

"I'm just saying, if you want to go back to the Tree of Time…"

Korra continued to stare at her. Gradually understanding came in to her blue eyes, and she grinned at Asami. "Asami, you're brilliant and I love you." She pulled Asami even tighter against her, raining kisses on Asami's face.

Giggling, Asami tried to squirm away. "You would have thought of it on your own," she laughed.

"Yeah but it would have taken me at least three times as long," replied Korra, finally managing to capture Asami's lips. As they kissed, she felt Asami's resistance melt away. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Korra and rolled on to her back. Korra followed, slipping one of her hands under Asami's shirt. "Now, I'm thinking maybe we should go back to our cave," she breathed, referring to the place where she and Asami had dumped their camping gear before heading out to watch the sunset. "I'm not sure I'm ready for the entire spirit world to find out just how much I love my wife."

"It's a good thing you can bend distances here," said Asami with a coy smile, "because otherwise we might be having one of those really big fights you mentioned right now." She jumped to her feet and pulled Korra to hers. "Let's get the heck out of here."

* * *

Asami approached the rocky crags which surrounded the area where the Tree of Time grew with no small amount of trepidation. The last time she'd been here, it had been polluted beyond belief by the efforts of Sen Incorporated, the company run by Ron Regent and his son Jon. There had been black smoke, huge machines, and human workers everywhere. And what's more, on that occasion Asami had nearly died. It was a fight which Korra had often found herself reliving in her nightmares, though sleeping next to Asami every night was a great way to fix that problem.

Since then the Balance Task Force had cleaned the place up, but Asami hadn't seen it with her own eyes. She'd been too busy in Republic City to make it back to the spirit world. Korra had assured her that the place had been completely revived, but the damage had been so extensive that Asami doubted that the BTF could possibly have done much to clean the place up.

They crested the ridge and looked out over the valley, and Asami's jaw dropped at what she saw.

No longer was the area polluted by machinery. In fact, the valley had completely transformed from even what it had looked like just a few years ago in to something completely different. Where there had formerly existed a dead zone of rock and water, there was now lush, green vegetation. The Tree of Time, once the only living thing in the valley, was now the center point in a beautiful forest of colorful trees. The two spirit portals, rather than being the main landmarks of the area, seemed almost like afterthoughts. Spirits were diving among the leaves and running along the grass.

"Pretty cool, huh?" said Korra. "I told you we fixed it."

"But, how…?"

"Turns out that keeping Vaatu imprisoned here was actually harming the land. When he was here the energy was too dark for anything to grow. But since he's been released, things are balanced here again. The spirit world is nothing if not resilient. We barely had to do any cleanup on it. We got rid of all the machinery, but the rest of it pretty much took care of itself. Come on." Korra reached over and took Asami's hand, leading her down the mountainside towards the green valley below.

The forest was even larger than Asami had thought. From the ground the trees towered over them, almost as high as some of the buildings in Republic City. She couldn't believe how fast these trees must have grown. They all shared features with the Tree of Time, almost as though they were its disciples.

It was a downright pleasant walk to the Tree of Time. Asami had been worried that they would lose their way in the massive forest, but as they walked the trees around them seem to beckon them on. "I remember what Avatar Wan felt when he came here during the first Harmonic Convergence," said Korra. "It looked barren and ugly. He felt like it seemed wrong that the fight should end here. Nothing about the spirits was supposed to be this ugly. And now we know that the valley is capable of so much beauty."

"So why did it look like that?" asked Asami.

"I don't know. And remember I told you I came here once after Zaheer poisoned me?" Korra had told Asami about her travels during those three lost years the last time they had come to the spirit world on vacation, just after they defeated Kuvira. Since then they had worked through their feelings about that three-year separation, and though Korra still hesitated to bring it up, she knew that Asami harbored no hard feelings over the time. "I was looking for Raava. I came here and sat in the Tree of Time, but nothing happened."

"Because the poison was still blocking her, right?"

Korra nodded. "Anyway, when I came here the place was just like it used to be, all rocks and water."

"But if the spirit world was capable of creating this forest here, why didn't it do it as soon as Vaatu was gone?"

"Well, I can only guess, but my theory is that this forest is for _us_."

Asami stared at her.

"I mean, not you and me specifically, but for us humans. Before that portal was created in Republic City, there really weren't very many human visitors in the spirit world. But now that we all share both worlds, I think the spirit world wanted to up its game." Korra grinned. "It's kind of the difference between decorating a room that only you will see, versus a room where you're planning to host a couple of parties."

"So you're saying that the spirits grew this forest because they wanted to look pretty for us?" laughed Asami.

"Well, yeah," said Korra, joining in on her laughter. She reached over and affectionately patted the bark of one of the trees. "And you guys are doing a really great job of it, by the way."

A light breeze rustled the branches above them, as if the forest itself was squirming with pleasure.

They continued their walk hand-in-hand, and Asami found herself smiling at everything around her. It did seem a friendly place now with its dappled sunlight and soft green moss carpet. It even smelled good. It reminded her of her summer cabin in the mountains above Republic City, where she had spent several happy summers with her mother and father, and, more recently, one memorable afternoon with Korra. The longer they walked, the more convinced Asami became that Korra was right. This was a place that the spirits intended for humans to visit.

Over the past year Asami had become much more familiar with the spirits and their peculiarities, but this forest was proof that she would never understand them as implicitly as Korra did. Where she could discern no logical reason for the sudden growth of this forest, Korra had understood it on an instinctual level. It made her grateful that Korra was coming with her to Ba Sing Se. It would undoubtedly be extremely helpful in her dealings with the spirits there to be married to someone who was part spirit herself.

They broke through the tree line and found themselves at the bottom of the mound on which the Tree of Time sat. Before it had been a mountain of rocks and roots, but now it was covered in green moss. In front of the opening the roots had arranged themselves in to makeshift steps. Asami dropped her backpack on the ground, and then reached out to relieve Korra of hers. "You go," she said, placing the bag next to hers. "I'll wait down here."

Korra looked at her for a moment, and Asami could tell she was debating asking her to come along. But then she sighed and nodded. "Okay," she said. "I won't be long." She stepped forward and kissed Asami before turning and climbing up the roots. Asami watched her disappear over the top, then sat on the soft ground with her back against a tree to wait.

At the top of the mound, Korra faced the opening of the tree and took a deep breath, preparing her mind for a meditation session. She ducked her head and stepped inside. It was just as she remembered it, just as it had been the previous three times she'd been in there. Just as it had been since the beginning of time.

She walked to the center and sat down, crossing her legs and pressing her fists together. Then she closed her eyes and called out to Raava.

 _You don't have to be here to speak with me. We are bound together at all times._

"I know," said Korra. "But I'm here for a specific reason."

 _Ask your question._

"The last time I was here, you helped me heal Asami."

 _I did._

"Thanks for that, by the way."

 _You are most welcome. She is a fine human. I see you have been bonded. Congratulations._

"Thanks," replied Korra with a grin. "But listen, Raava. When we were here, you showed me my past lives."

 _Yes, I did._

"How? How are you able to see those lives, but I am unable to reach out to them?"

Raava seemed to hesitate before answering, and when she spoke she sounded truly regretful.

 _I cannot give you the answer you wish to hear, Korra. You cannot reach out to your past lives. Your connection to them is permanently severed._

Korra felt her heart sink. "Oh," she said. "But what about _your_ connection to them?"

 _That is gone as well._

"Then how were you able to show me those visions?"

 _I showed you my memories. You have only once truly connected with one of your past lives. It is the difference between thinking of someone and communicating with someone. In your previous life you often requested the guidance of your past lives, but in this incarnation, you were only once truly visited by a predecessor._

Korra knew which time it had been. Aang had once appeared to her on a snowy cliffside, as real to her as if he had actually been standing there. She'd even mistaken him for Tenzin. She hadn't realized just how important it was to have those lives as guidance back then. Now if something as devastating as what Amon had done happened again, there would be no one to bail her out.

 _You are feeling discouraged._

"Don't you? We're alone, Raava."

 _You have just been bonded for life with your companion. I hardly think we are alone._

"You know what I mean."

 _Memories can serve as guidance too, Korra. There is still wisdom available to you. The only difference is that you will have to work a bit harder to acquire it. You will have to interpret the message from your past lives instead of being led to wisdom through conversation._

This didn't exactly lift Korra's spirits. She remembered when she'd been captured by Tarlok and she'd meditated on a message from Aang about his encounter with Tarlok's father, an infamous bloodbender. That message had led her to discover the identity of Tarlok. But what had been frustrating about it was that ultimately the information had been worthless to her. By the time she'd figured it out, she'd already been captured. And by the time she escaped, Amon had already taken Tarlok's bending.

Raava seemed to know what she was thinking about. She projected the exact same memory that Aang had sent to her that day in the metal box. Then, to Korra's surprise, Raava projected an image from Korra's own memory—the memory of Amon's make-up coming off in the water just outside the stadium.

"That's right," she said out loud, understanding what Raava was trying to tell her. "It didn't help me fight Tarlok, but it did help me unmask Amon."

 _That is correct._

"But then again," continued Korra, "I really found out that Amon was a bloodbender because Tarlok told me they were brothers." She lapsed in to silence, remembering the sequence of events that had led to her unmasking Amon. She wasn't convinced that Aang's message had really done her any good after all. Sighing deeply, Korra said: "Well, I guess it doesn't matter either way. Just do me a favor and try and get these messages out to me a little sooner next time."

 _A reasonable request. I will try my best to comply._

"Thank you."

Korra stood and bowed. She climbed out of the tree, turned back towards it and bowed again. Then she went back down to the ground, where Asami was standing and brushing grass off her pants. "Well?" she asked eagerly.

"Let me help you with that," teased Korra, reaching out to brush nonexistent grass off Asami's butt.

Laughing, Asami jumped back out of her reach. "Hey, don't try to distract me. What happened?"

Smile fading, Korra looked back up at the tree. "My past lives are permanently gone. The visions Raava gave me that time were from her memories. She remembers them, but she can't communicate with them."

Asami reached out and took Korra in to her arms, pulling her in for a comforting hug. "I'm sorry, Korra."

"It's okay," said Korra unconvincingly, her voice muffled against Asami's shoulder. "I mean it was kind of a long shot anyway. Besides, I've pretty much already come to terms with my past lives being gone."

All the same, Asami stood for a long time holding Korra in her arms, providing much-needed support while Korra gathered herself together. As they stood there, Korra acknowledged that Raava had been absolutely right about one thing at least: They weren't alone.

"I'm sorry I made you come here," said Asami quietly, directly in to Korra's ear. "I really thought I was right on this one."

"You didn't make me do anything. I wanted to do this. I had to find out one way or another. Better to get it over with now so it doesn't drive me crazy later."

Asami seemed to accept this placation. She stepped away from Korra, though she left her hands on her shoulders and looked her right in the eye. "You're really okay?"

"I really am."

Green eyes bore in to blue as Asami studied Korra's face. Korra must have passed the examination, because Asami nodded at her, apparently satisfied that Korra was telling the truth. "Alright," Asami said. "Are we finished here?"

"I think so, unless you wanted to go in there." Korra jerked her thumb in the direction of the Tree of Time.

For a moment, Asami considered it. If she went inside the tree, chances were she'd see memories of her parents; memories that were much more clear and well-preserved than what Asami could conjure inside her own head. It was tempting, but not tempting enough. The only thing that would come out of a session in the Tree of Time would be grief and regret, and she didn't want to spend a single minute of her honeymoon thinking about what could have been. She was happy with what she had now. Only a fool would want to look to the darkness in her past when the future before her was so bright.

"No thanks," she said. "Let's go find Iroh. I could really go for a cup of jasmine tea right about now."


	6. Moving Day

**Author's Notes:** I haven't added any author's notes to this story so far because it hasn't been necessary, but I think now is a good point in the story to check in.

So usually it takes me a while to get in to the swing of a writing project, and this "swing" is what determines whether a project will fail or succeed. If I can't find my pacing then I'll abandon something before it's finished. I'd have to say that right around this point in the story is where I found that swing with this story. Unlike with "Chosen's Chosen," I'd actually had the entire plot for this story mapped out before I even started writing it. There were a few details I hadn't figured out yet, and I figured those out as I wrote.

This chapter is where the meat of the story begins. Originally I'd had an additional chapter that took place in the spirit world, but I decided to cut it because it didn't really add anything to the fic as a whole. I'd written it back when I thought I might explore an additional plot point, but I ultimately found that particular thread to be a dead end so I cut it in my revisions. Trust me when I say you're not missing much.

Anyway, just thought I'd explain that. Everything from here on out is big-picture plot stuff. Welcome to Ba Sing Se.

Chapter 6: Moving Day

"Dinner is served," said Korra, balancing two paper plates in one hand and two bottles of beer in the other.

"Great," said Asami. "What have we got?"

"We have the last two packets of ramen noodles, aged perfectly to just two weeks before their expiration date and drained of all broth because we don't have any bowls, and these two beers that I found in the very back of the fridge that I'm pretty sure are from our housewarming party."

"Ooh," said Asami as Korra sat down next to her on the blanket in the middle of the balcony of their empty apartment. It was the night before their move to Ba Sing Se, and they'd already sent most of their things ahead to their new place in the Earth Republic's capital city. "You really know how to treat a girl nice."

"Only the best for you, my darling. Eat fast though, because the noodles are still soggy and they're starting to leak through the plates."

Asami poked at her rubbery noodles with her chopsticks for a while before deciding to finally take a bite. It actually didn't taste that bad, but it wasn't as good as non-instant ramen noodles, or even instant ramen noodles that hadn't been robbed of its broth. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I wish we could be eating proper instant ramen noodles right now."

Knowing Asami's slight aversion to any "cheap" food, Korra pretended to act surprised, giving a huge, dramatic gasp. "Is that Asami Sato, CEO of Future Industries, saying she wishes she was eating one-yuan noodles?"

"Oh stop it," laughed Asami. "We should have ordered take-out."

"Why would we eat take-out when we have such fabulous options available to us here? I didn't even tell you what we're having for dessert."

"What?"

Reaching behind her, Korra produced a pudding cup and what appeared to be a single stick of gum. "I found these in the cabinet. I was going to let you take your pick of which one you wanted, although I'm willing to go halfsies on each if you are."

"Korra, we don't have any spoons. How are we supposed to eat pudding without any spoons?"

"With our fingers, of course. Or I was thinking I could just dump some on your stomach and then lick it off," replied Korra with a saucy grin.

Asami had to admit: That _did_ sound like a pretty good idea.

When they'd both given up on their noodles, Asami set their plates aside and leaned against Korra's shoulder. Korra wrapped her arm around Asami, placing a kiss on the top of her head. "I'm going to miss this view," she said. Their balcony overlooked the crater with the spirit portal in the center. They had spent many nights sitting out here watching the people and spirits below them go about their business.

"Me too," replied Asami. "There are a lot of things I'm going to miss about this place. The year we've spent here has been the best year of my life. I have a lot of fond memories of being here with you."

"We'll make more memories in our new place, Asami. Since we got together I've come to realize that home isn't just a place where you live. Home is where your heart lives, and my heart lives with you. Anywhere can be home for me as long as we're together."

"I couldn't agree more. Don't get me wrong, I'm not worried that I won't love our place in Ba Sing Se, but this is the end of an era. After tomorrow, a lot is going to change for us." Asami reached out and took Korra's free hand, her heart giving the happy leap that she still felt whenever she saw Korra's wedding ring. "I'm glad that I have you to be my constant. At least I know that whatever else may change, you'll still be there for me. I can handle anything as long as I have that."

"You'll have it forever," promised Korra. "There's no place else I'd rather be."

In the morning, Korra and Asami drove to the airfield, then stood around on the tarmac to say goodbye to their friends while one of the crew drove Asami's satomobile up a ramp in to the airship to take it with them to Ba Sing Se. Joining them on the tarmac was Bolin, Opal, Lin Beifong, and the entire airbender family. Korra hadn't expected so many of their friends to show up. Over the last week the two of them had been making the rounds, visiting each of their friends to say goodbye properly.

"Thanks for coming, you guys," said Korra. "I feel really loved right now."

"Thanks for not sneaking away like you did at the reception," replied Bolin, pretending to sound irritated. No one but Korra, Asami, Bolin and Mako knew the role the two brothers had played in the newlyweds' escape from the party.

"We wouldn't dream of it," said Asami. "This is too important."

Everyone hugged and exchanged farewells. Lin clasped first Asami's, and then Korra's forearm in a professional handshake and said: "Watch out for yourselves in Ba Sing Se. The chief of police over there isn't as easy to deal with as I am."

"I find that hard to believe," said Korra with a laugh. "No offense, Chief, but you're no walk in the park."

Lin did not smile. "I'm serious, Korra. Tread lightly. She could make life very difficult for you over there."

Korra had no idea what to make of this, so she just nodded and moved on to say goodbye to Tenzin. Even as she did, though, she continued to turn what Lin had said over in her mind. While Lin did have a penchant for being hyper-protective, Korra had to admit that on most occasions she'd been right to be cautious. A person didn't become chief of police by being a bad judge of character. If Lin said the chief in Ba Sing Se was going to be difficult, it was probably true.

A member of the crew came out and informed them that the airship was ready. After saying their final goodbyes, Korra and Asami boarded the ship and buckled in to their seats for takeoff. As she watched her friends becoming tiny dots on the tarmac, Korra admitted: "I'm not heartbroken about leaving Republic City. Does that make me a bad person?"

"What do you mean?" asked Asami.

"Last time I left for Ba Sing Se for an indefinite period of time, I was really sad. I didn't want to leave. But this time… it's easier."

"Well, last time you were heading in to a really bizarre situation. You had no idea what to expect."

"How is that any different from now? If we're to believe Lin, this is going to be a strange situation too. No, this time it's easier because you're coming with me. Last time I was sad to leave everybody, but leaving you was the worst."

Asami smiled and tilted her chin up for a kiss. "If that makes you a terrible person, then what hope do the rest of us have? Korra, nobody begrudges us for moving. People move all the time. I mean, you're the Avatar. You have to go where duty takes you. You're allowed to be excited about this."

"Okay," said Korra. "You're right. I guess the fact that I feel bad about _not_ feeling bad about leaving is good enough."

She looked over at Asami, who was clearly trying to make heads or tails of that sentence. "If you say so," she said.

"I do say so. And for the record, I _am_ excited about this."

"Me too," replied Asami. "It'll be great."

When they landed, Asami immediately unbuckled her seatbelt and took charge of the situation. Korra stood back and watched with pleasure as Asami coordinated the removal of the last of their luggage, its transportation to their new apartment in the upper ring, retrieval of the satomobile, and secured dinner reservations at a restaurant nearby. She even sent someone to find Mako and invite him to dinner. "I love watching you work," said Korra once they were seated in Asami's satomobile. "You're so sexy when you're organizing stuff."

"I _feel_ sexy when I'm doing it," laughed Asami. "I don't know why, but things like that have always come naturally to me."

"You're by far the best leader I've ever met. People feel safe as long as you're in charge."

"I don't know about that, but I definitely feel comfortable in that position, even before I took over Future Industries. In grade school I organized all my group projects. I guess I must have gotten it from my father. I used to follow him around while he was working all the time. I remember being so impressed with how all his workers seemed so eager to please him. He had a way with his workers." Asami smiled grimly. "I guess of all the traits I could have inherited from him, this is one of the best."

Korra frowned. She could tell by Asami's tight grip on the wheel that she was angry. As she was still trying to formulate a way to get Asami to open up to her about her father, they pulled up in front of the restaurant and heard a familiar voice calling out to them.

Mako had already arrived at the restaurant and had seen them approach. Now he was coming towards them with a huge grin on his face. He was impeccably dressed in a well-tailored suit, a red tie done up neatly at his throat. "I'm so happy you're here!" he said as he hugged them both. "I was so excited I came right here from work."

"Good thing," said Asami, looking at him approvingly. "I think that girl over there might be checking you out."

"Erm… It's probably not what you're thinking," he said awkwardly. "I'm pretty famous here. My job keeps me in the limelight. Plus, I mean, you two are here. She could be checking one of _you_ out."

"That's probably it," said Korra. "What do you think, Asami? Do you want me to go over there and give her your number?"

Asami pretended to consider this. "Hmm… How many elements can she bend? I only go out with women who can bend at least three elements."

"Tough luck for her," sighed Korra. "Only I can do that."

"You guys are weird," said Mako. "Cute, but weird."

They were seated at a booth and the three of them placed their orders. Korra and Asami told Mako about their honeymoon in the spirit world while they waited for their food. When they'd finished telling Mako about a tea party they'd had with Iroh and Lee, he remarked: "It's a good thing Lee feels comfortable running your Republic City branch, because you've got your work cut out for you here."

"You think so?" said Asami skeptically. "It didn't seem like the vine problem was going to be as bad here as it was in Republic City. At least that's what Haku thought."

"I think structurally Ba Sing Se isn't as bad, but there have been a lot of problems coming in from other sources that we never had to deal with in Republic City. Organized crime has been really bad here recently. There are sections of the lower and middle ring that are almost completely controlled by various gangs."

"If you know where the gangs are then why aren't the police arresting them?" asked Korra, who was toying with her chopsticks as they waited for their food to arrive. Asami recognized the fidgeting as a sign that Korra was extremely hungry, which wasn't surprising considering their dinner the previous night and the meager snacks they'd eaten on the airship.

"The Ba Sing Se Police Department won't touch anything having to do with the spirits," explained Mako. "The gangs know this, so they pick areas which are overgrown with vines for their bases. A lot of the gangs are actually friendlier with the spirits than the BSSPD is."

"I see," said Korra. Her initial reaction was to wonder why the police department wouldn't tackle spirit issues, but after thinking about it, she realized that her viewpoint might be skewed by her months working with the BTF in Republic City. After countless hours of intensive spiritual training the BTF was happy to do spirit work, but at first they'd been reticent and awkward about it. "Well, it's good that I'm here then. Once we can get the Balance Task Force up and running, we'll be arresting bad guys left and right."

Their food came and distracted Korra, but Asami had seen a curious expression crossing Mako's face, like he was trying to decide whether or not to say something. "What aren't you telling us?" she said to him, meeting his gaze squarely.

"Nothing," he said with a nervous laugh. "Everything's fine."

Korra recognized his mannerisms; he had acted the same way after she'd come back from the south pole and forgotten that they'd broken up. She'd asked him if the fight they'd had before she left was serious and he'd lied and said it wasn't, when in reality she'd actually blown up most of the police station with airbending in her anger. "What, Mako?" she prodded, setting down her chopsticks.

He sighed, knowing the battle was lost. Deciding it would be best to be blunt, he said: "The BSSPD doesn't want to form a Balance Task Force."

" _What?_ " snapped Korra and Asami simultaneously.

"Don't worry, Genly is going to issue an executive order making it mandatory," Mako hastened to add. "But the fact is that the BSSPD won't be happy about it. It's not going to be a walk in the park for you, Korra."

"Well, that's fine. What's the fun in doing something that's easy? I welcome the challenge," said Korra, picking up her chopsticks and beginning to dig in to her meal with more focused intensity.

Mako and Asami exchanged glances. It was pretty clear that Mako thought that Korra might be in over her head. Asami felt torn between wanting more information and wanting to preserve Korra's optimistic state of mind. Ultimately she decided to table the topic for now; there would be time to talk to Mako in private tomorrow. She had an appointment at the Earth Palace to meet with Mako and Genly to begin preliminary planning for the redesign of Ba Sing Se. Besides, she reasoned, they were both exhausted from their day of travel and they still had to go to their new apartment and begin the arduous process of unpacking and decorating their new place. Despite her exhaustion, Asami was looking forward to getting started. Tasks like that were always incredibly fun and enjoyable when she did them with Korra.

They dropped Mako off at the Earth Palace after dinner. He explained that when he'd first made his move to Ba Sing Se permanent, he'd kept a small apartment in the middle ring. But as he'd grown more comfortable and interested in his role in Earth Republic politics, he'd found that it took much too long for him to get to and from work every day. Wanting to be more accessible to Genly in case of emergencies, he'd accepted the same room in the Palace that he'd lived in through the constitutional convention.

Korra and Asami went to their new place, which was on the outskirts of the upper ring. Though no view could be as nice as the one they'd had in Republic City, from their balcony they could see the middle and lower rings of Ba Sing Se sprawling out below them. When they'd first discussed moving to the Earth Republic, they had both wanted to move to the middle ring. It had never been their intention to live on the upper ring—Asami had had enough of upper-class society to last her a lifetime. But the police station headquarters was on the upper ring, and Asami's newly-formed Ba Sing Se branch of Future Industries had been unable to find a suitable place to headquarter their operation on either the lower or middle rings. Apparently there had been very strict zoning restrictions put in effect after the appearance of the spirit vines in the city. Plus, travel between the rings had become more difficult; many of the tram-cars which carted people up and down ran on tracks that had become overgrown with vines. Asami already had ideas about how to fix that particular problem, but the fact remained that without being able to earth or airbend, it could be very time-consuming for her to get from the middle ring to the upper ring for work.

"I'm so tired," complained Korra as they waited for the elevator on the bottom floor of their building. "How could I be this tired when all I've done today is sit on an airship and go out to dinner?"

"Well I hope you're not too tired to put sheets on the bed, because I've got a few phone calls to make before we turn in."

"You didn't have the movers put our sheets on the bed for us? Unbelievable, Asami. After all that time I spent complimenting your leadership and organization earlier…"

"I thought about asking them to do it," said Asami as she rummaged around in her bag for her keys outside their door, "but you know how much I love watching you bend over." She finally located the keys and unlocked the door. Then she squeaked in surprise as she found herself scooped up in to Korra's arms. "Hey! Put me down! What are you doing?"

"It's traditional for the groom to carry the bride over the threshold of their home after getting married. I thought since this is our new home, we might as well start it out right!" She carried Asami inside, kicking the door closed behind them.

"You're not a groom, Korra," laughed Asami, dropping her bag on the floor and throwing her arms around Korra's shoulders. "Take me back outside and let _me_ carry _you_ in here. It's only fair."

"Don't worry about it. You hardly weigh a thing. I carry rocks heavier than you on a daily basis."

Asami put a hand over her heart. "Such flattery! 'You aren't as heavy as a rock.' You always know how to make me feel so special."

Korra carried Asami all the way to their bedroom and deposited her on the un-made bed. Before Asami could get up, she pinned her down and kissed her solidly. "Go make your calls," she said when they'd parted, "because as you might have noticed, I'm _not_ too tired to make the bed. Among other things."

It was very tempting for Asami to tell Korra to forget the sheets and the phone calls. She tugged Korra down for another kiss, letting everything else fall away from her mind.

But she was surprised when Korra pulled away from her and put a finger on her lips. "Hey," said Korra. "I know what you're thinking."

"I should hope so," replied Asami, trying to pull Korra back to her. When Korra refused, she frowned petulantly. "Since when are you the more responsible one of the two of us?"

"I'm not. I promise you, I'm not. But I know you'll regret blowing off your work tonight in the morning, and I hate it when you get all mad at yourself, especially if it's partially my fault."

Letting out a disappointed sigh, Asami said, "Fine. You're right. I'll go make my calls. But hold that thought because this will only take a few minutes."

"Don't worry about that," replied Korra. "To be honest, that thought is never really that far from my mind."

Unable to resist, Asami gave her one last soft kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too. Now get off that bed so I can make it."

"You know," said Asami as she complied, "you look sexy when you're bossing people around, too."

"I'm going to hold that thought too, if that's okay with you."


	7. President Ai

Chapter Seven: President Ai

Before sunrise the next morning, Asami left Korra snuggled up in their new bed and headed over to the Earth Palace. Upon her arrival she went up the steps and found that there had been a stone reception desk set up just inside the building. Seated behind it was a young woman with a pleasant smile. "Good morning," she said. "Welcome to the Earth Palace. What can I do for you?"

"My name is Asami Sato. I'm here to see President Ai."

"Oh yes, welcome Miss Sato. The President is expecting you. Have a seat and I'll let him know you're here."

Asami almost said that technically she was now "Mrs. Sato," but the woman had picked up a phone and Asami decided not to distract her. Instead of sitting, she wandered a little farther in to the entrance hall and looked up at the ceiling, spinning in a slow circle. She hadn't been inside the Earth Palace in a few months. The last time she'd been here there had been vines growing on the outside of the building, but they hadn't been obstructing or damaging any part of the stone surface.

Now she could see that that had changed. In fact from where she was standing she could see that before long, the vines may actually threaten the structural integrity of the building. The Earth Palace had been built hundreds of years ago, and its construction style was one that most architects had long since stopped using in building designs. A building made out of stone was heavy, and a roof made out of stone was heavy. Asami's favorite technique to use in designing stone buildings was to divide the weight in to sections by creating a curved spine like a ribcage. Having the ribs as support allowed for more leniency in every important aspect—it allowed a higher ceiling, more windows, a stronger skeleton, and was much safer in terms of possible damage to the building. If part of a building that used a spine as its base were to crumble, only directly damaged sections would fall. Each part of the building was self-sustained. Since none of the load-bearing beams were actually connected, it would be easy to both rebuild and expand such a structure.

The Earth Palace wasn't like that. Whoever had designed this building had done it before the advent of the spine technique. This building was stark and less graceful. The weight of the stone in this building was supported with bulk rather than balance. Thick walls took most of the weight of the ceiling, but it wasn't enough to support the entire roof so there were huge, thick pillars placed at regular intervals all throughout the entire building. It was a symmetrical and regular design that was pleasing to the eye, although, in Asami's opinion, it couldn't exactly be called beautiful.

Vines were now creeping in through crevasses and windows all throughout the atrium. Most disturbing were the vines that seemed to be coming right through the miniscule space between the wall and the ceiling. They must have found tiny cracks and were now gradually widening them to make room for more vines. Some of the vines were stretched so far across the ceiling that they were wrapping around the tops of some of the load-bearing pillars towards the center of the room. It was these that made Asami the most nervous. She walked to the bottom of one of the pillars and craned her neck upwards, trying to determine if the stone near the place where the pillar met the ceiling looked damaged or cracked. If it was, it would be a very bad sign indeed.

"Pretty bad, huh," commented someone behind her, and she turned to find Mako and Genly standing there. "I had a feeling you'd notice that right away," continued Genly.

"Can you give me a lift up there?" she asked. "Um, I mean, good morning Mr. President, thank you for meeting with me."

Genly laughed and waved her comment away. Instead of answering he dropped in to a crouch and used earthbending to lift Asami up to the ceiling on a makeshift elevator. At the top, Asami tried to push away some of the vines to look at the stone beneath it, but they were wrapped so tightly they barely budged. From what she could see the stone was intact, but if the vines pressed any harder she couldn't imagine it retaining its integrity for long. "Okay, bring me down," she called to Genly, her voice echoing around the chamber. Once she was back on the ground, she said: "That's no good, Genly. We should get to work on fixing this as soon as possible."

"No," said Genly firmly, and Asami raised an eyebrow at him. "Let's go to my office. We have much to discuss."

As they walked through the halls, Asami looked closely at the building, trying to determine problem areas that might be more urgent than others. She didn't know why Genly had said no to fixing the Palace, but it seemed like a no-brainer to her. The government couldn't risk operating in a palace that might be about to crumble down right on top of them. Luckily there was one place in the building that would probably be okay—the main chamber where congress met had been redesigned very recently in to a ribbed structure with a high, vaulted ceiling. It had been one of Wu's final projects as the last member of the royal family. While preparing for the constitutional convention he'd removed all the pillars from inside the chamber and re-balanced the weight of the stone components in order to make room for the huge semi-circle of chairs where all the Earth Republic representatives sat. What was more, a quick look around the perimeter of the chamber showed Asami that for whatever reason, vines had not yet penetrated this area of the Palace.

Genly's office was just around the corner from the main chamber. He held the door for Mako and Asami, then closed it and went to sit behind his desk. Asami sat in a visitor's chair just in front of it. As Asami dug around in her bag for her notebook and a pen, Mako fixed them all a cup of tea and sat next to Asami. "Thank you for coming, Asami," said Genly. "I hope you and Korra are settling in nicely."

"We are. We're really excited to be here."

"Good. We are glad to have you both. Now, not to be rude, but I think it's best if we get started. There is a lot to explain, and I have a very full schedule today."

"Sure," said Asami, opening her notebook to a blank page. "Perhaps we could start with why you don't want me to fix the Palace for you."

"It's not that I don't want you to, it's just that I don't want you to do that first," clarified Genly. "I think with the general climate in the city, it would be best for you and your team to start on the lower ring and make your way upwards."

"What do you mean?"

"The people of this city are feeling neglected. Ever since the election there has been a lot of… spirited debate about the city of Ba Sing Se."

Mako chuckled. "Genly, you have a way with words. What he means, Asami, is that there has been protesting. It's like what happened in Republic City when Amon was rising to power. People hold secret meetings, start picket lines outside government buildings, and get themselves arrested by attacking police officers."

"Why?" asked Asami, looking back and forth between the two of them. "What do they want?"

"They want a representative in congress," said Mako.

"They want someone who can give them their city back," said Genly in a correctional tone. "Yes, they want a representative, but only because they feel that having a congressional representative will get their city fixed faster."

"But why don't they have a representative? Isn't it reasonable to ask for that?"

"How can I explain this?" said Genly, pressing the tips of his fingers together for a moment as he thought. "Our government is very new. We've just been through three great political upheavals. First, we lost our queen. Then, we lost Kuvira. And then we lost the monarchy entirely. Every representative in this city wants to feel safe in the event of another revolt. By having complete control over the city, we can ensure that we are protected because we will be protecting ourselves. The flip side of that is that we must also be responsible for everything in the city, including the redesign of the city. In the future, when the government of the Earth Republic is more secure, we plan to turn Ba Sing Se in to its own state. But for now, we must keep it under the control of the Presidency."

Asami nodded her understanding, jotting down a few notes. "Do you think that people will calm down when they see that I'm here to rebuild the city?"

"I can only guess, but I think it will help. But we haven't even told you the biggest problem we are having here." Genly sighed, drumming his fingers on the desk.

"I already told her about the BSSPD," chimed in Mako. "They kind of forced it out of me."

"Ah, good," said Genly with relief. "I didn't relish being the one to tell you about that. The BSSPD has been very difficult these last couple of months. If we're being perfectly candid, their practices have been downright questionable."

"Korra and I knew they were corrupt when we were here for the convention, but I kinda thought they would straighten out their act after Gan-Lan and the Regents were arrested," said Mako.

"If they're corrupt, then why don't you just get rid of them?" asked Asami. "You control the city, right?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. As President I do have the power to replace the chief of police and get rid of any lower officers, but only if I have a good, provable reason for it. As it stands, they haven't done anything illegal. They've been unsavory, to be sure, but not criminal in their actions."

"Plus," added Mako, "we can't just dissolve the police department. We need them. They may not be stopping all the crime in the city, but they're stopping some of it at least."

Asami shook her head. "Korra should be here for this. She's the one who's going to be dealing with the police department, not me."

"We plan to tell her everything we're telling you, but we wanted you to come here alone to ask your advice on something," said Genly, and Asami looked at him with curiosity. "The police department is where you are supposed to form the BTF, but they are not particularly amenable to this. We want Korra to go in there and at least try. But there is another force in this city that we must account for." He paused, cleared his throat, then said: "We were wondering how you think Korra might react if we asked her to take control of the Dai Li."

Asami stared at him. "The Dai Li," she repeated flatly.

"Yes," said Genly.

"The same group that aligned itself with Princess Azula during the 100 Years War."

"Yes."

"The same group that imprisoned all the airbenders and hid them under the city in order to turn them in to the Queen's personal army."

"The very same group."

"I'm not sure she'd be too interested in that," concluded Asami.

"I thought you might say that," said Genly, disappointed. "Look, the history of the Dai Li is long and complicated. But without the monarchy, they've just been under the employ of the federal government. They're basically glorified security guards. Most people think they don't exist anymore. If word gets out that the Dai Li is still around, it could cause us a lot of problems. People might think the Presidency is building its own secret service, or worse, its own army."

"So instead, you want to give the Avatar an army," said Asami.

"I want a Balance Task Force," said Genly assertively. "I want my city back. I want peace between the humans and the spirits. And I think Korra has a better chance of doing that with the Dai Li. The BSSPD is too risky."

Asami sat back in her chair, turning everything she had just learned over in her mind. "If Korra uses the Dai Li instead of the BSSPD, then they won't have the authority to arrest any criminals they find hiding amongst the spirits," she said.

"They could still work joint missions with the BSSPD," suggested Mako. "It might be easier to work with them on a case-by-case basis than trying to open up a whole new branch of their department."

"You know what," said Genly, holding up his hand to halt the conversation, "it's not worth discussing this right now. Here's what we'll do: We'll let Korra know everything we've just told you. Then, if she's willing, she can meet both groups and decide which one she wants to work with. If she picks the BSSPD, I'll issue my executive order commanding them to create a BTF. If she picks the Dai Li, I won't do anything. Does that sound reasonable?"

"Sure," said Asami, although she was a little worried about how Korra would feel about having other people decide her course of action without her even being present. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair and decided that it was time to move on to other topics. "Okay," she said, flipping to the next page of her notebook, "tell me your biggest problem areas in the lower ring and I'll go down and visit them each sometime over the next week."

"Alright," replied Genly, clearly taking the hint. He opened a portfolio that was sitting in front of him, skimming its contents and paging through it. "There are a lot of options here," he mused.

"Keep in mind, I'll get to all of them," Asami said. "What I'm looking for are places where there is imminent and immediate danger to human life, or places where travel and transit are most hindered to the largest number of people. I like to start with places which will allow my crew and me to travel from site to site easier. The faster we can work, the more we can work. Do you mind if I use this table?" Without waiting for him to answer, she took out a long tube and withdrew what were clearly blueprints for Ba Sing Se. She stood and spread the blueprints out over the table she had indicated. Mako immediately joined her, and Genly followed after a moment. The city of Ba Sing Se was drawn out over the parchment paper, liberally sprinkled with numbers and notes hand-written in pencil. Ba Sing Se was shaped like a circle, with its three rings decreasing in circumference towards the center like a bulls-eye. The lower ring, the outermost ring, was by far the largest. "The way I see it, you've got four major intersections in the lower ring—at twelve, three, six and nine o'clock." She pointed at each spot on the blueprints. "Of course I'm going by business district criteria. I know it sounds callous but in Republic City we found it was better to start by fixing the financial district so that we could revitalize the economy. I think you'll find a lot of your problems will start solving themselves once people are making money again. Once we do that, we can start working on the residential areas. So what I'm wondering is the extent of the damage to these four intersections, and if you think it's worthwhile for me to get them up and running first."

She looked up at Genly, who was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, one eyebrow raised at her. "You know, Miss Sato, I think I should tell you that I'm very much looking forward to working with you."

"Technically it's Mrs. Sato now, but you can call me Asami," said Asami, grinning. Mako gave a bark of laughter and slapped her on the back.

"Our Mrs. Sato could go toe-to-toe with any representative in the nation, Genly," he said proudly. "I knew you'd like her."

"Yes, well, I feel very confident in the reconstruction efforts now that we've had this little chat," said Genly. He walked over to his desk and picked up a pile of portfolios, including the one he'd been flipping through just a few minutes before. "Here. Take these. This is all the information I've compiled about the state of the city thus far."

Stunned, Asami reached out and took the papers as if they were made out of delicate glass. "Are you sure? This is a lot of stuff. What if there's something you don't want Future Industries to do? How will I know?"

"Just do me a favor and keep me in the loop, but I want you to have free reign on this. Mako is my most trusted aide, and you are one of his most trusted friends. Not to mention, you're married to the Avatar. Those are some pretty convincing credentials."

"I'm flattered," said Asami. Her fingers were itching to break in to the portfolios but she forced herself to be polite. "Thank you. I won't let you down."

"I know you won't. But I should be thanking you. It's not every day that someone walks in to my office and offers to take an enormous load off my shoulders," laughed Genly. "Now, I don't know about you two, but I haven't had breakfast yet and I am starving. Why don't you let me brag about the greatest perk of the Presidency by allowing the chef here to make you something to eat?"

He placed one hand on Mako's shoulder and the other on Asami's and steered them out of the office towards the kitchen down the hall.


	8. BSSPD

Chapter 8: BSSPD

Korra and Mako stood outside the police station, looking up at the building that was half office building, half palace. It was constructed similarly to the Earth Palace. In fact certain elements of it were identical to the Palace, most notably the huge stairs out front and the solid-gold slab of its roof. Korra stared at it the same way she might stare at Bolin if he ever suddenly entered the Avatar state.

"This is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen," she said. "I wonder if Chief Beifong knows that the BSSPD headquarters is worth more than five years of salary for the entire Republic City police department combined."

"I'm pretty sure she does. There's a reason the RCPD doesn't collaborate with the BSSPD very often. She really doesn't like the way they do things here."

"I don't blame her. If this is any indication of how they choose to spend their money, then I'm sure I won't be very pleased with them either."

"We've got to try, though," said Mako. "Remember what Genly said."

They'd told Korra everything they'd told Asami earlier that morning. Korra was well aware of the fact that the BSSPD was likely to be uncooperative.

And she was well aware that the alternative was unthinkable.

Genly had called the BSSPD "risky," but Korra was inclined to believe that the Dai Li would be riskier. They were notoriously corruptible. Their loyalties were too nebulous, especially in a city where organized crime was a problem. What would happen if Korra were to train the Dai Li to become the Balance Task Force only to have them turn around and join one of the gangs that made their homes among the spirits? It would be devastating for the city. It could undermine everything that she and Asami were here to do. It would mean the end of balance in Ba Sing Se.

So she had to use the BSSPD. She gazed up at the ridiculous building and steeled her nerves. "Okay," she said, a determined expression in place, "let's do this."

They walked up the stairs and went in to the building. Korra had been inside the RCPD building countless times, and Mako used to be a detective himself. What they'd expected to find inside the precinct was activity. They expected phones ringing, suspected criminals being booked, citizens trying to talk to officers about various minor issues, all the hustle and bustle of every-day work at a police station. But that was not what they found at all.

The station was crowded, but that was where the similarities to the RCPD ended. Instead of uniformed officers and citizens, they found uniformed officers— _only_ uniformed officers. They were everywhere. Two of them leaned against a small fountain chatting informally and laughing. At each desk were several officers, and Korra could see at least two different card games taking place at separate desks. From where they were standing they could see the courtyard outside and the large game of rock-ball that was taking place there. No one seemed to be working. In fact it was several minutes before anyone even acknowledged that they were there.

"Can we help you?" asked one officer, more annoyed than pleasant.

"I'm Korra," said Korra, looking around at all the officers in the room. One by one they were realizing that they had visitors and were looking up at them. "I'm here to see Chief Saigon."

None of the officers looked like they particularly cared about this proclamation.

"Guys, this is _Avatar_ Korra," said Mako pointedly.

"Yeah, we heard her the first time," quipped one of the cops, and several of his comrades chuckled. "The chief is back there, but she isn't taking visitors right now." He jerked his thumb in the direction of an office at the back of the room.

"Great," said Korra, her anger building. "We'll just head back and there and talk to her then." She began to walk right past all the cops, her head held high.

Mako followed just a step behind her, glaring at all the police as he passed. "Thanks, you've been real helpful," he said sarcastically.

Korra knocked loudly on the chief's door. There was no answer, so she knocked again, this time with her entire fist. When she got no answer again, she began to knock repeatedly until she heard a voice behind the door call out: "I'm not taking visitors right now. Please come back during my office hours."

The police officers sitting nearby snickered.

Patience evaporated, Korra looked around until she spotted a full teacup sitting on a desk. She bent the liquid out of the cup over to the doorknob of the chief's door. Once there, she froze the liquid, encasing the entire knob in solid ice. Then she took a step back and kicked the doorknob with all her might. It shattered magnificently and the door itself swung wide open. She and Mako strolled inside, and Korra politely closed the door behind them, though it couldn't latch because there was a hole where the doorknob used to be.

Korra walked right up to the desk where Chief Saigon was sitting there staring at her with a mixture of rage and fear. She was a surprisingly petite woman with dirty-blonde hair pulled back out of her face. Her green eyes revealed her nation of origin, and Korra guessed by her musculature that she was an earthbender. When Korra reached out a hand, Saigon tried to conceal a jump of surprise. "Chief Saigon, I'm Korra and this Mako. Thank you for meeting with us," said Korra cordially.

The two women stared at one another for a long, silent moment. Outside the office, the cops were all staring through the windows of the office and the new hole in the door. After a while, Korra decided that Saigon probably wasn't going to shake her hand, so instead she and Mako took seats in front of her desk.

"We're here to discuss the creation of a Balance Task Force in your department," said Korra in a businesslike tone.

"We're not interested," replied Saigon immediately.

"I don't care," shot back Korra.

"The spirits are destroying our city. Why should we have to make nice with them?"

"This is their city, too."

"No, it isn't. Last time I checked, spirits have never lived in Ba Sing Se before _you_ brought them here. It's always just been humans."

"Why aren't any of your officers out on a beat?" asked Mako unexpectedly.

Saigon looked at him as though she'd just remembered he was sitting there. "None of your business."

"As a former detective, I'm just trying to understand how this precinct operates."

"It operates how I tell it to operate," said Saigon. "My officers aren't needed in the city right now. They'll go on patrol later."

"I see," said Mako, nodding and scratching his chin. "And how many officers do you have out on the streets right now?"

"I don't see how any of this is your concern. You're here to form a new branch in my department, not evaluate the branches I already have."

"How is the organized crime problem being dealt with?" asked Korra. "How many of these criminals have you brought in?"

"If those scumbags want to live in those disgusting vines, I say we let them," said Saigon.

"That doesn't answer my question," said Korra. "Why won't you go near the vines?"

"I've gone near them plenty of times, when I'm trying to destroy them."

Korra gave her a cold smile. "And how does that work out for you? Do you get them down?"

Saigon glared at her and said nothing. She knew just as well as Korra did that the vines were basically indestructible.

"Look, Chief, I'm not trying to come in here and bully you," said Korra, attempting to swallow her dislike of this woman. "But you have to understand that the vines and the spirits are here to stay. If your city doesn't start adapting to these changes, you're risking having the whole city thrown out of balance."

The chief gave an annoyed snort and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because I care so much about that. _Thrown out of balance_? What does that even mean?"

"It means there will be fighting," said Korra passionately. "If the humans and the spirits don't get along, _there will be fighting_. And not just fighting between the humans and the spirits, although that will happen too. Humans will fight amongst themselves. People will get hurt. When things become unbalanced, people have a way of being corrupted and destroyed. That's why we need the Balance Task Force. That's why Asami Sato and I have come to this city, so that we can prevent all of that before it gets any worse."

"Ah, yes, Asami Sato," said Saigon, her eyes dropping to the ring on Korra's finger. "I think I'd like to meet her. She must be a powerful woman indeed if she's good enough for the _Avatar_."

Mako noticed immediately when Korra's posture became stiff and her anger quickly transformed in to a burning rage. He reached over to place a hand on Korra's arm, trying to calm her down. The motion did not go unnoticed by Saigon, who looked back and forth between the two of them.

"Asami Sato is none of your concern," said Korra slowly and evenly.

"Funny how you don't want me to butt in to your business, and yet you have no problem butting in to mine. Listen, Avatar, the BSSPD is fine the way it is. If you want to bring your little tree-hugging groupies over here from Republic City, that's fine by me. But we're not interested in your shtick here. Go find someone else to do your job for you," concluded Saigon, then she stood and left the office.

Mako and Korra looked at one another. "Do you think she's single?" asked Mako, and Korra burst in to laughter.

"Oh my goodness Mako, that could not possibly have gone any worse," she said, gasping for breath.

"Let's get out of here," said Mako, twisting around to see if people were still staring. They were, although when he turned around they pretended to be doing something else. The chief was nowhere to be seen. "Before they find some reason to arrest us."

Their departure from the station was quick but not rushed. They didn't want to appear intimidated. As they passed by all the police officers, Korra noticed that the underside of the gold slab that formed the ceiling was almost completely covered in spirit vines. She made a mental note to mention it to Asami.

Once outside, Korra glanced up at the sky; it was approaching the end of the work day and she was toying with the idea of going to see Asami's new office. "Are you going back to the Earth Palace?" she asked Mako.

"Yeah," he replied. "I've still got tons of work to do. Genly needs me to work on a new tax proposal. It's going to simplify the way we tax citizens based on income. As long as you earn more than—"

Korra cut him off with a wave of her hand. "It's cool. I get it. You have to work. As riveting as that sounds, I think I'll just let you get right to that."

Laughing, Mako said: "Sorry. I forget that not everyone cares about this stuff. Trust me, if we were standing in the Earth Palace right now, I'd have a huge audience for what I was just talking about." He gestured to the police station. "So what do you want me to tell Genly about that? Do you want him to issue the executive order?"

Though not an unexpected question, Korra felt blindsided by it all the same. She sighed deeply. "I don't know. I guess so. What other option do I have? I'm the Avatar, after all. If I can defeat a dark spirit that was trapped in the spirit world for thousands of years, I think I can get Chief Saigon to form a benign task force in her police department."

"Alright," said Mako. "I'll let him know."

They said goodbye and Korra turned towards the sunset, deciding that yes, she was going to go visit Asami at her new office. She wandered slowly through the streets, which were deserted because they were technically part of the Earth Palace complex. All the buildings in this area of the upper ring were residents for people who worked in the government, and people who worked in the government were all still at work.

As she turned down an alley to take a shortcut, she felt a chill down the back of her neck and stopped dead in her tracks. She'd seen a shadow dart across the ground in front of her which, based on the position of the sun, could only have been caused by someone on the roof above her. Just as she dropped down to a fighting stance, her pursuant showed himself, landing with the grace of a cat on the ground just in front of her.

And then, five more dropped down. She was suddenly surrounded by six strangers, all dressed in black-and-green kimonos and similarly colored conical hats. Korra had only a split second to take this information in before all six of the strangers attacked.

Instinctively, she launched herself upward with airbending, grabbing on to a windowsill on the second floor of the building next to them. She hung there for a second until two of the men fired projectile stones at her, and the other four used earthbending to project their own bodies at her.

She jumped upwards again, this time landing on top of the roof. This caused the men to have to come over the lip of the roof one at a time. Korra took water out of a clogged gutter nearby and used it as a whip on the first guy who made it over the ledge, causing him to windmill backwards and fall back down to the ground. Korra jumped across the alleyway to the rooftop parallel to them, but as soon as she landed, the same guy who she had _just_ knocked off the other roof came up after her, his rock-encased fists flying.

There was now no doubt in Korra's mind. These were no ordinary earthbenders. She was being attacked by the Dai Li.

She sparred with the man on the roof, using airbending to dodge with finesse, but she could see that the other Dai Li agents were coming up on the rooftop. Again she jumped over the tops of their heads, but this time straight down to the ground, backing down the alleyway in the hopes of getting the agents to come at her one at a time.

But they were too good for that. They knew that every move Korra had made so far was an attempt to take them on one-on-one.

 _Fine_ , thought Korra. _If they want me to take them on all at once, I'll just have to do that. Let's see how they handle brute force._

She let the Dai Li surround her again. This time when they made to attack her, she ducked down, pulling up a layer of rock from the ground around her and encasing herself in a protective rock cocoon. When she felt the agents using earthbending to crack her rock egg, she pushed out with all her might and sent rock flying in every direction, blasting all the Dai Li back. Then she twirled, pushing out as hard as she could again, but with airbending this time. The agents went flying in all directions. Most of them had the wind knocked out of them when their backs hit the buildings around them. Korra waited to see if any of them would try to attack again. When one did, she pushed him back with fire, sending him flying down the alley, his kimono singed.

Korra straightened up and regarded her attackers. They looked beaten, but she didn't trust appearances. She kept her guard up as she approached the one closest to her. He had a silver collar on his robe where the other five had gold. "Are you the leader?" she asked, glaring down at him.

The man smiled grimly. "Not anymore," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The Dai Li are loyal to the most powerful force in the city." He struggled to his feet, as did the other agents. They came towards her, getting in to a triangle formation. The man with the silver collar stood directly in front of her. Behind him stood two others, and behind those stood three.

Then, as one, they all took a knee before her. "The Dai Li are loyal to you, Avatar," they murmured in unison.

" _What_?" shouted Korra. "No. I never asked you to be loyal to me. Get up." The Dai Li did. "Why did you attack me?"

"To see if you were strong enough to defeat us," answered the man with the silver collar. "We have waited a long time for the Avatar to return to Ba Sing Se. We are loyal to you."

"Return to Ba Sing Se?" Korra felt lightheaded.

"Yes."

Even as Korra stared at him in disbelief, she could feel understanding building in her mind.

No Avatar since Kyoshi had ever lived in the Earth territories.

Sure, there were times when Avatars visited. Even Korra herself had come to Ba Sing Se for an extended period of time for the convention—six entire months. But it hadn't been her home. Aang, too, had been forced to spend a relatively long period of time in this city. But he was an air nomad. It wasn't his home either. True, Republic City had been built on Earth territory, but it had become its own nation by the time Aang could call it his home. And before Aang there was Roku, who had lived in the fire nation his entire life.

And before Roku, there was Kyoshi.

"Leave me alone," said Korra to the Dai Li. "I need time to think about this."

They bowed to her, and then jumped like grasshoppers up to the rooftops above, silent and nimble even in their injured states. After they had gone, Korra closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath.

When she opened her eyes, she was in a stone courtyard near a large manor house, walking up and down a line of men running earthbending form drills. As she walked she called orders, and the men gave an answering call and performed the requested physical motion. She was pleased with their progress, and proud of what she'd created. These men were going to be the finest earthbenders in the world, capable of protecting the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se, which would in turn prevent another revolt, which would then maintain balance. No other Avatar had ever thought to do what she was doing with these men. In the Dai Li, she had a force which could be extra eyes, ears and hands for the Avatar. They would make her a better Avatar. They would make her stronger.

Korra blinked and suddenly found herself back in the alleyway in Ba Sing Se. Raava had sent her a message. She'd just relived a memory of Avatar Kyoshi.

A few minutes later, an aide showed Korra in to Genly's office in the Earth Palace. "Korra," he said. "What a surprise. I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon. I was just about to send this executive order off to the ways and means committee for financial review so we can push it out tomorrow."

"Cancel that," said Korra. "I'm going with the Dai Li."


	9. Problems and Solutions

Chapter 9: Problems and Solutions

Korra stood on the balcony of her new apartment, looking out over the city below. Darkness was thick and heavy, but it was broken by small, twinkling lights. For whatever reason, Ba Sing Se had never adopted the use of electricity as easily as Republic City had. Many of its less prosperous citizens still used candles and lanterns to light their buildings. Asami had said that it was probably a run-off of all the years that Ba Sing Se had stood completely separate from the rest of the world's affairs, being kept from the truth about the 100 Years War. Then, once Aang had ended the war, the Earth Queen had kept most of her citizens from ever earning enough money to adopt more modern technology. This was something that Future Industries was likely to end over the coming years. Part of the plan for the rebuild was to install electric wires in more places, thus allowing more citizens affordable access to energy.

But for now, the city appeared dark at night. After a year in their previous apartment, Korra had grown used to the yellow glow of the portal through their sliding window. It was disturbing to Korra to see a metropolis like Ba Sing Se be so very dark and quiet at night. The upper ring was still lit up, but as far as Korra could see, the nightlife of the lower two rings must operate largely in the dark.

She turned when she heard the door open behind her. Asami came out and put her arm around Korra's shoulders. "Are you coming in?" she asked, kissing the top of Korra's head.

"In a minute," replied Korra, her voice distracted.

Asami slid her arm down and rubbed Korra's back comfortingly. "There was never any choice, Korra," said Asami, as usual guessing correctly as to exactly what was bothering Korra. "The BSSPD wasn't going to work."

"We can't know that because I didn't even try."

"You did try. It didn't work."

"I tried intimidation," muttered Korra. "I tried to bully them in to it."

"You're right. You should have walked in there, been super nice to them, and let them make the choice on their own."

Korra opened her mouth to reply, but then shut it and laughed, instead. "I know it sounds stupid. I'm just not sure how this is going to work. The Dai Li are risky too, just in a different way. In a more dangerous way, even."

"Okay, well, let's talk this out. Come on, we can use my office." She took Korra's hand and tugged her inside the apartment.

"No, that's okay Asami. I know you're tired and you have to get up early. This is my thing, and I just need to work it out."

"Oh, I'm sorry, was that not you I married a couple weeks ago? Because I thought we were supposed to share our things now," said Asami, squinting at Korra as if she didn't recognize her. "Darn, I really could have sworn that was you. I guess I'll have to go find my _actual_ wife now." She sat down and began pulling on her shoes.

It was tempting for Korra to let Asami put on her shoes and walk out the door in her cute, flannel pajamas, but it seemed pointless without Varrick and Zhu Li following with their camera, so she said: "Alright, alright. Let's do this, Sato."

They went in to Asami's office. Asami, businesslike and serious, sat at her desk and set aside a stack of papers that she'd been working on earlier and took out a blank sheet. At the top she wrote: Dai Li/Balance Task Force.

"Okay," she said, looking at the words, "so the first thing we should decide: What will we call your new little team?"

"I don't know," said Korra, sitting down on the sofa in the office. "Avatar Kyoshi is the one who named them the Dai Li. Maybe I should respect that."

"Hmm…" Asami tapped her pen on her desk, thinking. "Well, that's actually a good point."

"It is?"

"Yeah. It begs the question, what _do_ we know about the Dai Li?"

Getting more comfortable, Korra reclined on the sofa and put her hands behind her head, staring up at the ceiling. Asami watched her with an affectionate smile on her face. She loved it when Korra got all cute and relaxed. "I know they were started by Avatar Kyoshi," said Korra.

"We said that one already."

"They betrayed the Earth King and sided with Princess Azula."

"Yikes."

"They captured Kai and a whole bunch of other airbenders and wanted to train them in to an army."

"Also yikes."

"They ambushed me while I was all alone because they wanted to see if I was strong enough to beat them."

"But who hasn't attacked the Avatar, right?" quipped Asami.

Korra chuckled, but it tapered off quickly as she replayed the scene from earlier that day in her mind. "They said they were loyal to me—to the Avatar."

"But they've betrayed loyalties in the past," Asami pointed out.

"True," agreed Korra. "But this seems different. They said that they've been waiting for the Avatar to return, and I'm the first Avatar to actually call the Earth territories my home since Kyoshi. Maybe if Aang had ever lived in Ba Sing Se, they'd have been loyal to him."

"For how long, though? Until someone came along and offered them a higher pay rate?"

They looked at each other, realizing they'd basically come full circle.

"So I guess we don't really know anything about them," concluded Korra. "Great. And I can't pick up the proverbial phone and call Kyoshi anymore, so I'm not sure how I can find out."

"You could… ask them," said Asami hesitantly.

"Ask who?"

"The Dai Li."

Korra sat up from her reclining position on the couch. "Ask the Dai Li about themselves?"

"Yeah. Seems like that's your best chance."

For a moment Korra just looked at her, then she grinned and pointed at Asami. "You are a genius."

"Stop," laughed Asami.

Standing, Korra came around the desk and put her hands on Asami's shoulders. "You are," she said. "Don't deny it."

"You always say I'm so smart but all I'm doing is saying the most obvious thing and you totally would have thought of it eventually."

"Nope," said Korra loudly. "You're a genius and I'm lucky to have you." She began to push Asami's rolling office chair out of the office.

"Korra!" cried Asami, trying not to laugh. "Quit it! We still have work to do!" Asami jumped off the chair and ran back behind the desk. "Roll that chair back over here, missy," she commanded.

With a defeated sigh, Korra complied. She returned to the couch and plopped herself back down. "Alright boss, what's next?"

"Aside from the loyalty issue, let's come up with a list of other problems you might encounter in teaching the Dai Li to be a Balance Task Force," suggested Asami. "Then we can think of things you can to do counter it."

"Alright," said Korra. "For starters, they're only earthbenders. In Republic City we had a good mix of all four benders, plus some non-benders. It was really helpful to have a variety of different temperaments on the team. Plus, without waterbenders we can't calm down spirits who go in to a rage."

"Excellent point." Asami drew two columns on the paper. On the left side she wrote "lack of diversity." She looked up at Korra and said: "What do you think you could do to rectify that?"

"I'll have to recruit more people, I guess. I'm not sure how well the Dai Li will be able to work with non-earthbenders, but I don't think there's any other choice."

"That sounds like it could be really time-consuming. You're going to have your hands full just trying to teach the Dai Li."

"True," said Korra. "Maybe I could get someone else to do the recruiting while I focus on training."

"Like an assistant. That could work." Asami wrote "recruit/assistant" on the second column, directly across from "lack of diversity." "You'd need someone you can trust, someone who knows what you're looking for in a team member. And it would have to be a people person, someone who gets along with people and is a hard worker."

They looked at one another. Simultaneously, they both said: "Bolin."

"He'd be perfect," said Korra. "I trust him completely, and I know he'd pick great people for the team. I'll call him first thing in the morning and find out if he's interested."

Asami added "Bolin?" in parenthesis next to the word "assistant." "What else," she said.

"How about bad publicity? The Dai Li have a terrible reputation around here. People aren't going to respond well to them gaining any sort of power."

On the left Asami wrote "public opinion." "There's only one way to fix a bad reputation, and that's to replace it with a good one," she said. "You're going to have to prove them wrong. Go out there and be excellent, and people will start to see that they aren't like that anymore."

"That's manageable, as long as they really _aren't_ like that anymore." Korra considered it a little further, then added: "Maybe we could do a public demonstration, like we did when we were looking for airbenders. If Bolin comes to help out, he could put one together for us."

"Great idea," said Asami, jotting down "be awesome" in the right column. "That sounds like fun. Let me know if you actually set that up because I'll come watch, especially if you plan to bounce Mako around a little again."

Korra laughed. "Will do." She reached over and picked up a little wind-up polar bear dog toy off Asami's desk, wound it up, and let it march across the wooden surface. "Here's another one—it's possible that the Dai Li may not be compatible with the spirits. Some people are better suited for spirit relations than others. If we recruit other people in Ba Sing Se to be part of the team, it's something that the recruiter will be looking for."

Adding "spiritual aptitude" to the list, Asami mused: "That's a toughie."

"Yeah," agreed Korra. "That isn't something you can change about a person." She sighed and stretched out on the sofa again. "I wonder how the Dai Li pick their members out. Is there some quality they all share, or is just based on innate earthbending ability?"

"I don't know," replied Asami. "That's an excellent question though."

"Maybe, but it doesn't tell us what to write on the right side of the list."

"No, it doesn't." Asami tapped her pen on the desk. "We'll have to leave that one blank for now. It'll drive me crazy to look at, but I don't have any ideas."

"Me either."

"But I do have something I can add to the left side—the Dai Li can't arrest anyone," said Asami, jotting down "authority."

"That's an easy one, at least," said Korra with a chuckle. "I happen to be on a first-name basis with the President of the Earth Republic."

Also chuckling, Asami simply wrote: "Genly."

"Let me see the list so far," requested Korra, and Asami slid the paper over. Korra cast her blue-eyed gaze over it. Seeing everything laid out so neatly did a lot to ease her uncertainty. It certainly did seem more manageable in this format, although that blank space across from "spiritual aptitude" was a little discouraging. "This looks good. Your handwriting is beautiful."

"Thank you," replied Asami brightly. She tried to stifle a yawn, but Korra noticed it.

"I think that's enough for one night," she said, putting the list back on the desk. "Let's go to bed."

"Are you sure? I can help you come up with some lesson plans if you want," offered Asami.

"Maybe tomorrow. Right now, there's a really comfortable bed in the other room and it's calling our names."

Asami got up and walked around the desk, but Korra stopped her before she got any further, pulling her in for a warm, loving hug. Never one to turn down a hug, Asami wrapped her arms around Korra's midriff and smiled goofily in to Korra's hair. "Thank you for helping me," said Korra. "You're the best wife ever."

"I know."

In the morning, Korra got up when Asami did. They sat and had breakfast, and Korra kissed her goodbye at the front door when Asami left for work, already looking forward to the moment when they would see each other again that evening.

She went to Asami's office and sat down behind the desk, picking up the phone and dialing. The Balance Task Force in Republic City ran on a strict schedule, and she knew that if she was going to catch Bolin before he left the station for his daily activities, it would have to be very early in the morning.

"Republic City BTF," said a voice on the other end of the phone, and Korra recognized the speaker as Tom Regent.

"Hey Tom, it's Korra."

"Oh, hey Korra. Nice to hear from you. How's Ba Sing Se?"

"Good, especially since no one is following us around or attacking us in parks this time around," said Korra, suppressing a grin.

"Har har," drawled Tom. "That is so very funny; I can hardly contain my laughter."

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. You know I'm just messing with you."

"I know," he said. "So what can I do for you?"

"Actually I was hoping to speak to Bolin. Is he around?"

"Yeah, I'll go get him."

There was a long silence on the other end of line, followed by some clicking, and then a beloved voice came on and said: "Korra! I'm so happy you called!"

"Hey Bolin," laughed Korra. "What's going on?"

"Well I could really use some… _lady_ advice, if you know what I mean. But I'm guessing if you called me, you have some kind of Avatar thing you need me to do, so why don't you go first and I'll do my thing after."

Korra squinted at the phone, trying to decipher what in the world "lady advice" meant. Deciding to ignore that for now, she said: "You're right. I have an Avatar thing I need you to do." As briefly as possible, she explained her decision to train the Dai Li instead of the BSSPD, and how it necessitated that she recruit more members. "So I was kind of hoping you might come here to Ba Sing Se and be my helper on that."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. You'd be great at it. Asami and I both think so."

"Well, geeze. I guess I'd have to move to Ba Sing Se to do that though, huh?"

"Um, yeah, it would be kind of hard to do this over the phone."

Bolin sighed. "Let me ask you my lady question, because this kind of relates," he said.

"Okay, shoot," said Korra, leaning back in Asami's comfortable office chair.

"I think maybe I should ask Opal to marry me."

Raising one eyebrow, Korra said: "That's an odd way of putting that."

Bolin made a frustrated noise. "I know, because that's how I feel about it. You and Asami got married, and Varrick and Zhu Li are all married and stuff, and like… The whole city is still talking about your wedding, and there's like a million people all getting married right now. So what if Opal is sitting there thinking, 'Why oh why isn't Bolin asking me to marry him?'" He said this last part in a high-pitched, dramatic voice.

"Do you think she's thinking that?" asked Korra, amused.

"I dunno. No, I guess not," he admitted. "But still, isn't it something we should be doing?"

"Look, Bolin, I understand where you're coming from, but nothing and no one should dictate the terms of your relationship except for you and Opal."

"But you and Asami got married, and you guys haven't been together nearly as long as Opal and I have. No offense," he added quickly.

"None taken," said Korra. "That's a good point, but here's the thing: You don't know everything about my relationship with Asami, just like I don't know everything about your relationship with Opal. Asami and I knew from the very beginning where this was going to end up. Neither one of us was looking for a way out. We always knew this was it. So when we decided we were moving to Ba Sing Se, we figured we'd get married while we still lived in Republic City, because that's where we wanted to hold our wedding."

"Aww," said Bolin, and Korra could picture his misty-eyed expression. "That is so sweet."

"Focus, Bolin. We're having a serious conversation here."

"Right, sorry." He cleared his throat. "Do you think being married has changed your relationship? That's what a lot of people say, and I really don't want my relationship with Opal to change."

"Hasn't changed a thing," said Korra immediately, but then she amended her statement. "Well, it's changed a couple of things. Just last night she stayed up way too late because she was helping me figure out some of this Dai Li stuff. And we get to introduce each other as our wives. But we love each other the same way we always have, and our long term plans are still exactly the same, because like I said, we already knew we were going to be together for the rest of our lives."

"I see," said Bolin thoughtfully. "I get what you're saying."

"You know Opal better than anyone, right? Do you think she wants to get married right now?"

"No," he answered firmly. "We both have a lot going on right now. I don't think she would want us to have to plan a wedding on top of all that."

"I think you have your answer," said Korra. "Although it sounds like you're going to tell me you can't come to Ba Sing Se because you've got too much going on there."

"Don't rule it out," replied Bolin. "I'll talk to Opal about it. I know you've only been gone a couple of days, but we already miss you both so, so, so, _so_ much!"

Korra laughed. "We miss you too, buddy. You could come here and then all four of us could be together again."

They talked for a little while longer before Bolin said: "Well, I guess I should get out there and pound the streets."

"Me too. I have to figure out how the heck I'm supposed to get in contact with the Dai Li."

"Alright, Korra. Thanks for the advice."

"You're welcome. Talk to you soon."


	10. The Lower Ring

Chapter 10: The Lower Ring

Asami hastily stuffed the last of the documents she needed in to her briefcase and left her office. When she rounded the corner at the end of the hallway she found a camera right in her face. It was being held on the shoulder of Zhu Li, and her husband was standing right next to her. Without skipping a beat, Varrick threw his arm over Asami's shoulders. "What a surprise! We were just coming to see you!" he said.

"Hey guys. I'm sorry but it's going to have to wait. I'm running late enough as it is," said Asami, barely slowing her walk. She opened the door to the stairwell and started going downstairs, Varrick, Zhu Li and their camera just behind her.

"Where are you headed? We'll come with you and film," said Varrick.

"No," replied Asami firmly. "I don't have time to talk about your docu-mover right now."

"We don't have to talk about it. We just have to film it!"

"Let us film today, just in case," said Zhu Li, still pointing the camera at Asami as they descended the stairs. "It's your first time visiting the lower ring for potential construction sites, right? If we end up making this mover you'll be glad we filmed it."

"How did you know it's my first day?"

"Your foreman told us last night," replied Varrick. "She's a real nice kid, by the way."

Asami sighed. She would have to have a little chat with her new foreman Koti about using discretion in telling random strangers about her daily schedules. "I really can't afford to argue with you about this right now. The tram car is leaving in five minutes."

"What a coincidence, we're headed for the tram too. We might as well walk over there together," said Varrick innocently.

"Fine, but turn the camera off."

"I'm not filming you, I'm filming the air around you," said Zhu Li. "I'm allowed to do that, aren't I?"

"You guys are so annoying. Fine, do whatever you want. Just don't get in my way." Asami walked past them, picking up the pace and heading towards the tram station. She didn't check to see if Varrick and Zhu Li were keeping up; she just focused on getting there in time.

At the station she learned that the two of them had apparently had no difficulty whatsoever in following her. Asami found a seat, and Varrick and Zhu Li sat directly across from her, facing her. "So what's the game plan?" asked Varrick. "Got any ideas on where to start this crazy project?"

"I'm not sure yet," said Asami, choosing to ignore the camera and go about her business as usual. "I've got some ideas, but I'm meeting Koti down in the lower ring to see which place is most urgent."

They rode down the track, making a stop at the middle ring where many more passengers got on the already packed vehicle. With many of the trams being forced to stop operations due to vine growth, the city was doing the best it could with only three trams instead of its usual eight. Some people had to commute quite a ways to reach a station where they could board one. Asami's new Future Industries office was only a few blocks from one of them, but it was a convenience she was paying top dollar for. Its rent was significantly higher than what she paid for her office in Republic City.

There were now too many people on the packed car to facilitate any meaningful conversation, so instead Zhu Li pointed the camera out the window and filmed the city going by.

It had changed a great deal since she and Korra had ridden down to the middle ring during the convention. Vines were clearly visible, peeking out of some extremely inconvenient places. Some streets were so dense with foliage that it was impossible to see the buildings.

Asami found it startling at first, though she quickly regained her equilibrium. She was so used to seeing the streets of Republic City, which were designed to complement the spirit vines, that seeing a city so jumbled and disorganized was a little disturbing. If she didn't know any better, she'd have said that the spirits must have picked some places _because_ of how inconvenient it would be for the citizens of Ba Sing Se. But she had faith in her own ability to deal with spirits. None of the things she saw were insurmountable tasks.

At last the tram reached the bottom of the city, the lower ring. Asami, Varrick and Zhu Li all shuffled off the car to make room for passengers trying to go up to the higher rings. They reached the street outside the station and looked around, Zhu Li swinging the camera around before settling it on a young woman who had just hailed them from across the street. "Hey," shouted the woman, waving to Asami. "Asami!"

Asami waved back and the woman ran across the streets towards them. "Good morning Koti. Thanks for meeting me down here."

"No problem," said Koti. "It's easier for me to get down here than it is up there. Come on, my satomobile is parked around the corner."

Since Lee was staying in Republic City, Asami had promoted another exceptional member of her construction team to foreman in Ba Sing Se. Koti had been Asami's first choice for the job. Though she didn't have the professionalism and experience that Lee had, she was reliable, charming and easy-going. Not to mention, she was one of the greatest architects Asami had ever met. She'd designed and built buildings that were so beautiful that people stopped on the streets to look at them. Also impressive was her ability to haggle—Asami had seen Koti haggle with a materials supplier to almost half his original asking price. And finally, she was a native of Ba Sing Se, so she'd been more than willing to move back to her home city because all her friends and family still lived here. She was living in the middle ring near her parents; since Koti would spend far more time on construction sites than Asami would be, it made sense for her to keep a residence outside the upper ring.

"Thanks for letting these two know where I was, by the way," grumbled Asami as she gestured at Varrick and Zhu Li, who were climbing in to the back seat of the car.

"What do you mean?" asked Koti as she pulled the car away from the curb and drove towards their first stop on the tour of the lower ring. "They said they're making a mover about you. Shouldn't they know where you are so they can do that?"

"I haven't said yes to the mover yet," said Asami. "They just keep pointing that stupid camera in my face."

"Oh boy. I'm so sorry, boss. They totally lied to me. If I'd known that I never would have done it."

"You haven't said yes, but you haven't said no," chimed in Varrick from the back.

"Honestly boss, I think the fact that they're sitting in my back seat means you've pretty much said yes," laughed Koti. "You're not the kind of woman who lets people walk all over you. And by the way, I'd _love_ to watch a mover about you."

"There it is!" cried Varrick, leaning forward to clumsily high five Koti between gear shifts. "You see? You've already got a fan club!"

Asami just sighed and shook her head.

Their first stop was an intersection not far from the tram station they had just come from. This had seemed an obvious place for Asami to look at because of the public transportation issues in the city. With this intersection fixed, it would help to ease the increased flow of traffic on the station. They parked and walked all around the area, investigating the damage from every angle. Overall it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Vines growing straight out of the ground had crumbled some of the pavement in the street, making it only one lane in most places. Examining the growth patterns of the vines, she deduced that they actually were growing along with the grain of the road, splitting the pavement like one splits lumber with an axe for firewood. "This is an easy fix," said Asami. She walked back to the car and set her briefcase on the hood, taking out her notebook and flipping to the page where she'd made notes on this intersection the night before. She skimmed the info there. "It's owned by the city so we don't have to involve any private businesses. I'm thinking we can widen the roads here and use the vines as street dividers."

She turned and walked back in to the middle of the intersection, pointing out the vines she was talking about, helping Koti to visualize what she was describing. Once Koti understood, they went back to the car and moved on to the next site. "Is that intersection going to be a priority?" asked Varrick from the back.

"I thought it might be, but now that I've seen it I'm not so sure. We've got three other sites to look at before I make a decision."

The next place was a mess. It was a hospital near the Great Wall that surrounded the entire city. The building looked as though the vines were its wallpaper. Koti had hardly stopped the car before Asami was out, walking towards the building and flipping through her notebook. "This is bad," she said, squinting up in to the sunlight.

"It is?" asked Koti. "I actually think it looks fine."

"The hospital is fine, but check out the wall up there." She pointed to the area she'd noticed.

Ba Sing Se's wall was built to fend off attackers, and fend off attackers it had certainly done, but not without taking some damage. About halfway up this section of the wall, there was a deep gouge in the stone, and inside the gouge, just peeking over the lip of the hole, were vines. And they weren't growing up the wall—they were coming from _inside_ the wall. This could only mean that the vines had grown all through this section of the wall. Like the Earth Palace up above, its structural integrity was surely compromised.

"Oh," said Koti, the breath leaving her lungs. "Do you think anyone else has noticed that?"

"No," answered Asami. "Genly put this hospital on the urgent list because of all the vines on the building, but I can tell by the way they left the windows and doors exposed that the building isn't at risk. That wall, on the other hand, is a big problem." She went back to the car and grabbed her binoculars out of her briefcase, then went back and looked through them at the wall. "I don't understand," she muttered. "Where are they _coming_ from? The vines always start at the bottom and move up, but how could they start underneath the bottom of a wall? They need air, just like any other plant."

She handed the binoculars to Koti so she could look and wandered back to the car, Varrick and Zhu Li following silently with the camera. When Koti rejoined her at the car, she said: "I don't know, boss. It's definitely odd."

"You know what else this means?" said Asami. "It means that Genly's information isn't comprehensive. There could be other things his intelligence missed. We're going to have to send out teams to inspect the city for ourselves."

As they drove to the next site, Asami mused that it wasn't just Korra who was going to have to recruit more help. She didn't have enough hands in the city to do a complete damage survey. She was currently only employing enough people to work three construction jobs at once, though she would increase that number as things got moving and picked up speed.

They spent all day in the lower ring. By the end of the day, she'd visited all four of the big problem sites… and determined that she needed to begin work immediately on three of them. Only the intersection she'd first visited wasn't urgent. The other three places were very alarming—the wall by the hospital, a water treatment facility that was being consumed by vines that were abnormally engorged with water, and a tram station where the vines were just beginning to crush the pillars that kept the track elevated from the rest of the city. She'd told Genly that she hoped to start on projects that would open up commerce again, but now she knew she was going to have her hands full just trying to prevent life-endangering disasters.

And that was only the lower ring. She'd gone through the folders on the middle and upper rings looking for potentially dangerous damage, and there had been at least three in the middle ring that she wanted to look at in the near future. In the upper ring there was only the Earth Palace, but she'd have to send out teams to check both of the two inner rings more thoroughly. This was shaping up to be much more complicated than she'd anticipated.

There was something off about the city of Ba Sing Se. Asami couldn't put her finger on it, but something didn't feel right to her. Everything she'd seen that day was troubling, and she needed to figure out why.

She needed to talk to Korra. Korra could always help her understand her gut feelings.

Just as Asami was about to get in the car to head back to the tram station, something caught her eye in a tangle of spirit bushes nearby. There was something pearly-white hidden among the leaves. "Hold on one second," she said to the others, and she went over to investigate.

She knelt down next to the bush and saw what looked like a spirit, except it wasn't moving. It looked a little like Bumi's friend Muu Juu, but it was completely colorless. Its entire body was a strange mix of translucent and opaque, as if the spirit had been entirely filled with thick white smoke. It was one of the strangest things Asami had ever seen.

"Hey buddy," she said softly, pushing aside the branches so she could get a better look. "Are you okay?"

The spirit did not answer. Slowly, Asami put her hand in the bush to touch the spirit. But the moment her hand would have made contact with its little body, it... popped. That was the only word to describe it. The spirit popped, and all the smoke was released in to the air, vanishing as it rose towards the sky. Asami, who was wearing heeled boots and balancing in a crouch, nearly fell backwards in surprise.

"What the heck was that?!" said Varrick from behind her, and Asami jumped and this time actually lost her balance, landing ungracefully on her butt.

Placing her hand over her racing heart, she looked up at Varrick and Zhu Li, squinting when the camera's lens caught the glare of the setting sun. "I have no idea," she replied. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm really glad you guys were filming that. Can you do me a favor and get me a copy of the footage? I think I should show that to Korra."

"Sure," said Zhu Li.

Asami stood and brushed off her clothing. "Alright. It's late and I'm getting tired and hungry. Do you mind taking us back to the station, Koti?"

"You got it, boss."


	11. Dai Li

**Author's Notes:** So one of the things I really like about the Avatar universe is that it has all this history and background that make its world more three-dimensional. One thing I like to do with fanfic is to create backstory for things that didn't get a good look in the established universe. That's what I've done in this fic with the Dai Li. I hope the history I wrote for them fits in with the general tone of the show. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 11: Dai Li

Korra looked down the empty alleyway where the Dai Li had attacked her the previous day, trying to determine if there was anyone else around. She began to walk down it, towards the place where she had exchanged words with the agent in the silver collar, looking up at the rooftop above where she had first seen the shadow cross her path. Feeling a little silly, she cleared her throat and spoke aloud: "Um… Dai Li? Are you there?"

One by one, the six Dai Li agents dropped down in front of Korra from the rooftops above. When they were all present, they took a knee in front of her. "We are here to serve you, Avatar," said the man in the silver collar.

"Okay, great," said Korra. "Here's the first thing you can do for me: Stop kneeling to me. It's creepy."

Hesitantly, the Dai Li got to their feet. "We apologize, Avatar. We only wish to show you our fealty."

"I don't want fealty. I want trust. I want loyalty."

"We can give you those things, as well."

"Good. Give them to me, but you don't have to kneel anymore." Korra looked around at the alleyway. "I think we should talk, but this isn't a great place. Will you come with me to the courtyard of the Earth Palace?"

"We will," replied the head Dai Li agent.

"Awesome, thanks… um… What's your name?"

The question took the silver-collared Dai Li agent by surprise. No one had bothered to ask him his name in quite some time. For one crazy second he thought maybe he didn't remember it, but then he heard his mother's voice calling to him from his memories, faded over the long years. "I am Chen," he said. The name felt strange on his tongue.

"Chen. It's nice to meet you. I'm Korra." Korra stepped forward and offered her hand to Chen. There was a continued hesitation in Chen's movements as he mirrored her gesture and the two clasped each other's wrists. Chen couldn't remember the last time he'd shaken someone's hand. "So why don't you all come with me to the courtyard and we can get started? That sound good?"

Was she really asking his opinion? Chen and the other Dai Li agents stared at her, not knowing what to make of this strange young woman. Maybe there had been some mistake. Maybe this wasn't really the Avatar. But no, this was the same woman who had defeated them using all four elements, and though he hadn't seen her use the Avatar state, perhaps the fact that she _hadn't_ used it was even more convincing. She was a powerful bender, to be sure. The most powerful bender in the world.

Instead of answering, Chen just nodded. Korra nodded back, then turned and began walking in the direction of the Earth Palace. The Dai Li followed silently. It was possible to travel much faster over the rooftops, but the Avatar didn't seem to be in any rush. She walked with purpose and watched her surroundings not with wariness, but with obvious appreciation. Here was a woman who had nothing to prove. Here was the Avatar, their master.

The Dai Li followed her, their hesitation melting away.

When they reached the courtyard behind the Earth Palace, Korra led them to a shaded area where they could sit on the grass and talk. Genly had offered the use of this area to train since they could no longer rely on having the police station as their base. If Korra managed to recruit more members, she would have to think seriously about where she was going to move their lessons.

"So," she said to the group as they made a small circle. Chen sat directly across from her, and Korra guessed he was kind of their spokesperson. "Why don't we go around and you can tell me all your names? What want to do today is get to know each other. I already know Chen, but how about the rest of you?"

The other Dai Li agents told her their names: Wei, Sun, Zhang, Tao and Jun.

"It's nice to meet all of you," said Korra. She paused, looking around the group. "I have to be honest with you guys, I need you for something."

"That is fine," said Chen. "We are yours."

Korra shifted uncomfortably at his choice of words. "Okay," she said simply. "It's probably not something you're used to doing."

"We are very adaptable. Tell us what must be done and we will do it, no questions asked."

"You're allowed to ask questions. In fact I encourage it. And it isn't that there's something that needs to be _done_ , as much it is that I need you to _be_ something. You see, I just moved to the Earth Republic from Republic City because the spirits have come to Ba Sing Se. My wife, Asami Sato, is the head of Future Industries. She's in the city too because she's going to rebuilding the things that have been destroyed here. And I'm here because throughout this entire process, we need to maintain balance between the humans and the spirits. As the Avatar, it's my responsibility to make sure that's done. But the problem is that there is a _lot_ of work that needs to be done about that, and I'm only one person. So in Republic City what we did is created a new branch of the Republic City Police Department and we trained _them_ how to deal with the spirits, too. Are you following me so far?"

The group nodded, listening raptly.

"I went to the Ba Sing Se Police Department…" she continued, but she was interrupted by the Dai Li. All of them made disapproving hisses so silently that it would have been inaudible had they not all made the noise at the same time. "What?" she asked.

"We do not like the BSSPD," said Chen, anger flashing in his green eyes. "Their ways are deplorable and dishonorable. They are an affront to our city."

Korra smiled at his righteous anger. As strange as it seemed, she was actually pleased to hear this. It meant that the Dai Li had standards of honor and duty. "I couldn't have said it better myself," she said.

"I apologize for the interruption, Avatar. Please continue."

"Don't apologize. This isn't a lecture, it's a conversation. Feel free to comment or ask a question about anything. Anyway, as you might have already guessed, the BSSPD is a no-go. I won't get in to the gritty details, but let's just say Chief Saigon is probably going to have to replace the door to her office." Though he didn't say anything, Korra could have sworn she'd seen a glimpse of mirth on Wei's face. "This happened yesterday morning. And then after I left the station, you guys attacked me."

"We apologize for attacking you," said Chen, "but it is our way."

"No problem," Korra said, waving the apology away. "People attack me all the time. But the point is that when you told me you were loyal to me, I decided it might be a good idea to turn _you guys_ in to my spiritual helpers."

Chen turned this over in his mind. "It is a most unusual request," he said. "We have not worked such an open-ended assignment in many years. Usually we are asked to do quick work." Korra understood 'quick work' to mean things like theft, kidnapping and assassination.

"Does it sound like something you think you could do?" asked Korra.

"With practice," replied Chen.

Korra hoped he was right about that. She wasn't sure how to ask about that unsolved problem on the list that she and Asami had made. She decided on saying: "Have the Dai Li ever dealt with matters of the spirits before?"

"Oh, yes," said Chen. "Not for several generations, but the legend goes that the original agents, who were trained by Avatar Kyoshi herself, often interfaced with spirits."

"But none of you have done it?"

The Dai Li agents shook their heads. This could either be good news or bad news. It showed that at least the history of the Dai Li did include spirit work, but it wasn't clear whether the present-day agents would share that skill. Korra found herself asking the same question she'd been wondering about the night before in Asami's office. "How do you pick your members?"

"We are selected at a young age by our master. While under the employ of the royal family, teachers in Earth Kingdom schools were asked to notify the monarchy of any promising youngsters. They look for certain qualities that are necessary to be an agent of the Dai Li," explained Chen.

The use of the term "employ" was curious to Korra. Did they consider themselves to be hired by Korra? Chen had ever said anything about being paid for their loyalty to Korra, but were they expecting payment? She'd want to inquire further about that later, but right now she focused on her original line of questioning. "What qualities?"

"The first is earthbending abilities. Each of us are exceptionally good earthbenders. The second is dedication. A member of the Dai Li must be devoted to the group. And the third is a little more difficult to describe. We call it Fortitude. It is strength of will. It is an unflinching sense of self."

"Who decided on those qualities?"

"It was the basis on which Avatar Kyoshi chose the original agents," replied Chen.

 _Very promising_ , thought Korra. If the royal family used the same guidelines to recruit Dai Li members that Kyoshi had, it was reasonable to believe that every generation would have the gift of spiritual aptitude. The only way to find out for sure was to get the Dai Li out in to the city and give it a shot. But it would wait till later, because she had more she wanted to ask. "What did you mean when you said you were 'under the employ' of the royal family?"

Chen took a lot longer to consider his answer than Korra had expected. "This is not an easy question. For this we must discuss events that took place well over three hundred years ago, when the Dai Li was new."

"Go ahead and tell the story," said Korra. "We've got plenty of time."

"As you wish," said Chen. Everyone in the group shifted around, getting more comfortable to listen to the story. "Avatar Kyoshi created us to maintain order in Ba Sing Se. She trained us rigorously so that we could be strong, stealthy, and effective. While Avatar Kyoshi was alive, she was our master and our leader. We were feared, but we were respected. We were honorable, like the Avatar herself." Chen's expression became dark and clouded. "But after her death, we were left to royal family by the Avatar. At first we continued in our ways, but as the royal family became corrupt, the Dai Li did as well. We requested payment for our services. And as time went on we requested _more_ payment, and more and more, until eventually we were unrecognizable. We knew it was happening, but did nothing to stop it.

"However, Avatar Kyoshi was wise," Chen continued. "She always gave us the order that we must serve her as master as long as she lived in Ba Sing Se. It was our creed to do so. The Dai Li always knew that should the Avatar ever return to live in this city, we must continue to serve our truest master. The royal family could never lead us as she did. We lost our way without the Avatar's guidance. We became corruptible. As each new member was trained, they lost their Fortitude. They traded it for more wealth and power.

"But over the last year, there has been a shift in the Dai Li. We have lost almost all of our brothers. We used to be sixty strong, but have since dwindled to just us six."

"What happened to the rest of you?" asked Korra. If there were more Dai Li agents out there, it would be great to get them on board. They could certainly use the help.

"We do not know. They disappeared one by one. Some mornings they were gone when we woke. Some evenings they did not return from assignments. But no one has gone missing for quite some time now. It seems as though whatever came over our brothers and sisters did not come to us."

Korra wasn't sure what to make of this. "That is very strange," she said, although "strange" was an understatement. Terrifying, unnerving, or unbelievable might have been better words to use.

"It is. If I may be frank with you, Avatar Korra, we six believe that it is predestination," said Chen.

"How so?"

"We believe it was predetermined that you would return to Ba Sing Se to end the downward spiral of corruption on which we have been stuck. We believe that us six were the truest members of the Dai Li, and that is why we have been spared. Our Fortitude is still with us, and so we are left to return to our eternal master, the Avatar."

For the first time, a member of the Dai Li other than Chen spoke up. "If I may, Avatar Korra," said Zhang, "perhaps it is also predetermined that our purification coincides with the arrival of the spirits in Ba Sing Se."

The other members of the Dai Li looked at him. "It could be," said Wei.

"It must be. The dissolution of the monarchy and the arrival of the spirits are the only things to have changed in Ba Sing Se since the time of Avatar Kyoshi," chimed in Jun. It seemed that Zhang's comment had brought the other members of the group courage, and now they were all eager to participate. Korra smiled encouragingly at them.

"Well, I don't know much about predestination, but I like that you guys are so open to this idea. I was worried you might find it insulting, or beneath your station, or boring, or something like that," she said.

"Do not worry about us, Avatar Korra. We are amenable to the task," Chen assured her.

Later that afternoon, Korra watched as the six members of the Dai Li picked their way carefully through a jumble of spirit vines, hoping to meet some of their new spirit neighbors.

By the end of the day, Korra and the members of the Dai Li were on a first name basis with every spirit in the area, and Korra decided the very first thing she was going to do when she got home would be crossing off that pesky "spiritual aptitude" problem.


	12. Shopping Trip

Chapter 12: Shopping Trip

The marketplace in the middle ring was bustling and noisy, just as one might expect for a Saturday morning. Korra and Asami picked their way through the crowds, looking at the stalls and keeping a tight grip on each other's' hands to prevent being separated. It was their first day off since moving to Ba Sing Se, and they had to prepare for a little housewarming get-together they were having later that evening.

When Asami was younger, she'd always had maids, butlers, and other household staff to take care of planning for any social activities that happened in the mansion that was her childhood home. The first time she'd ever had to cook and clean for herself was the time she'd spent attending the University of Ba Sing Se, the only time she'd ever lived away from home. But then she'd gone back to Republic City and met Korra, and shortly after that her father had been arrested, and quite suddenly she'd found herself alone again. After everything that happened with Amon, Asami had taken up cooking and cleaning for herself, because it seemed silly to ask her staff to do that only for her. Of course, there were times when she let them do it; she'd worked long hours and was sometimes so exhausted that it was easier to let her butler cook.

But she'd been surprised to discover that she enjoyed cooking. Everything about the process appealed to her, from selecting the finest ingredients, to the methodical measuring and adding of spices, to the fine-tuning of the application of heat, and even the calming repetition of clean-up. In some ways it was like engineering. It required precision and planning.

Or so she'd thought, until she started living with Korra and discovered just how messy and disorganized things in the kitchen could get. Korra had a way of destroying every clean surface in the kitchen before Asami had even sliced one carrot. She was a whirlwind, and she spent more time laughing, teasing, and getting in Asami's way than she did actually cooking.

If Asami had enjoyed cooking before moving in with Korra, she absolutely _loved_ it now.

The two of them moved through the crowds, listening as people haggled at stalls, trying to get the best prices possible. That was one particular skill which Asami never bothered with when shopping in places like this. She'd argue with a contruction materials company about prices for days, but Asami had no interest in paying people like stall-holders in a Ba Sing Se middle ring marketplace anything less than full price. They needed the money more than she did, anyway. A man at a vegetable stall told her the price of her choices, and with a kind smile, Asami handed him some gold coins. He looked at her questioningly, as if expecting her to comment, but she said: "Have a nice day," and left.

"Those better be fresh," laughed Korra. "You just overpaid that guy by like two gold coins."

"You noticed that, huh?" replied Asami, blushing a little. "I thought you were distracted by that candy stall."

"I was, but you're forgetting about how you're so gorgeous that it's pretty much impossible for me to stop staring at you."

"Ah, yes, how could I have forgotten about that?"

"I have no idea, honestly," replied Korra, bumping their shoulders together as they continued through the market.

They were trying to savor this trip, because it may be one of the only ones of its type that they could enjoy with relative anonymity. Before long, they would become as recognizable to the laypeople of Ba Sing Se as they were to the citizens of Republic City. So far they hadn't been exposed to any great amount of publicity, but they'd only been in this city for a week. Korra was betting that it would be less than a month before strangers on the streets were stopping them to chat.

As if her thoughts had been made reality, a small girl ran up to them and pointed directly at Korra. "Avatar!" she cried, her smile so big that Korra could see that she was missing two teeth.

It was a scene right out of her past. The rush of déjà vu hit her head-on, and she realized that this actually _had_ happened before, and she actually _did_ know this little girl. She pointed back at the girl and said: "Gabi!"

The girl laughed with delight, happy to be recognized and remembered. She threw herself at Korra, who knelt down to return the hug. As she did, a hassled-looking woman broke through the crowd and said, "Gabi, you can't just run around talking to strangers!"

"But it's Korra! You said it was okay if it's Korra!"

The woman, who Korra and Asami knew to be Gabi's mother Lu Cee, smiled as she recognized the Avatar. "Hello again, Avatar Korra," said Lu Cee.

"Hello, Lu Cee. It's great to see you again." Korra rose to her feet and gestured at Asami. "And you remember my wife, Asami?"

Lu Cee nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! Ren and I were so excited to hear about the wedding. Gabi wouldn't stop talking about it. Congratulations to both of you."

"Thank you," said Asami. "How have you three been?"

"We're great. Our neighbors on both sides have had some trouble with vines, but we lucked out. They skipped right over our house."

"That is lucky. Do you live here in the middle ring?" asked Asami. Korra, again kneeling in front of Gabi, was making small talk with the child about her teeth and her dress. It was one of the cutest things Asami had ever seen.

"Yes," answered Lu Cee, also smiling at her daughter. "Gabi's school had a little trouble too, though, so now she has to go to a different school in the lower ring."

"I go on the train," chirped Gabi with pride.

"You do?" said Korra as if this was the most impressive thing she'd ever heard.

"Yup! Me and my friend and my other friend all go together with my mama."

"Ren works in the lower ring," clarified Lu Cee. "She takes them down with her every day."

"Which tram do you take?" inquired Asami.

"The number 4. We actually live closer to the 3, but it's out of commission."

Asami frowned. The number 3 track wasn't on her list of upcoming projects. The only one she had immediate plans for was the number 6, the one that was dangerously close to collapsing on to the city below it. It was on the complete opposite side of the city from the 3. "I'm sorry to hear that. I know the vines have made things really difficult, but we're doing everything we can to fix it."

"So it's true, then? You two are really here to help us?" It was obvious that Lu Cee had wanted to ask this since they'd first started talking. There was undisguised hope in her eyes.

Korra got to her feet and nodded. "We are. Asami brought Future Industries to rebuild, and I'm going to organize a team of humans that are trained to work with the spirits." She decided against mentioning the Dai Li. Something told her it wouldn't be regarded as good news to Lu Cee or the small crowd of people who were hanging around in the general vicinity, pretending not to be eavesdropping. "We'll stay here as long as it takes."

"Wow, that is great. I'm so happy hear that," said Lu Cee. "Where are you two living?"

"On the upper ring, not far from the Earth Palace. We wanted to live down here but there were a lot of factors working against it," said Asami.

"You're not missing much. Compared to the upper ring, it's pretty shabby down here."

"I disagree. The middle ring is much more our style. We like to be around people. The upper ring is too lonely," said Korra.

"I can't remember the last time I was up there," said Lu Cee, putting her hands on Gabi's shoulders. "We don't need anything from there, usually."

Korra and Asami exchanged glances, silently confirming that they were both thinking the same thing. "We're having a housewarming party later today," Asami said. "If you're not doing anything, we'd love to have you both, and Ren too."

The invitation clearly surprised and flattered Lu Cee. Before she could answer, Gabi spun and started tugging at her mother's shirt. "Can we go? Can we can we can we can we? Oh please oh please Mom can we?"

"Are you sure it won't be an imposition? I don't want to intrude on your private party," said Lu Cee.

"We wouldn't ask if we didn't mean it," Korra assured her. "It'll be good to have a chance to talk to someone who's lived here since before all the vines appeared. There's still a lot we don't know about the city."

The entire time they talked, Gabi continued to plead with her mother. Lu Cee smiled and said, "Alright then, we'll go." Gabi erupted in to cheers.

"Great!" said Asami sincerely.

They gave Lu Cee their address and hugged little Gabi goodbye. Then they parted ways so that Korra and Asami could finish their shopping. "We made friends," said Korra to Asami once they were alone again. "We're making new friends in our new city."

Asami laughed. "Go us! High five!" She held up her hand and Korra slapped it. "Now this party has to be extra special. We need to impress our new friends."

After another hour of shopping, they headed back towards the train station to go home and begin cooking. As they approached the stairway that led to the elevated track, they saw that there was some kind of commotion on the street. Though they couldn't see what was happening, there were shouts and the telltale sounds of earthbending from the area. They glanced at each other and broke in to a jog to see what was going on.

It looked as though there were two groups of two people fighting one another. Korra had seen many fights before, but this one struck her as different somehow. Both sides were fighting dirty, taking potshots and attacking each other when they were on the ground. And all of their moves were aimed to kill. Whatever these people were fighting about, it was bad enough that they wanted the scuffle to end in murder. They must have been at it for quite some time, because the stones of the street around them were broken and largely crushed to pebbles. People were fleeing from the area so Korra and Asami had to elbow their way against the flow of terrified pedestrian traffic.

Without stopping to think, Korra handed the bag she was carrying to Asami and took off running towards the fight. She put herself directly between the two parties involved and flung her arms out to either side, forcibly pushing the participants to either side of her with airbending. Then she lifted rock out of the ground directly below her, creating a wall that physically separated the two parties with her standing on top of it. "Stop!" she yelled in a loud, clear voice that echoed off the buildings around them. "Stop this fighting right now!"

For a moment nothing happened, but then the two people on her left turned and ran away. The two people on the right, however, began to attack Korra in earnest. Their attacks were just as brutal as they had been before. Korra dodged rock projectiles that would surely have shattered her skull. She used all four elements to combat them, punching fire, throwing up rock shields, boosting her speed with air, and, finally, freezing them in place with water from a fountain. She enclosed them in ice, leaving only their heads free. They struggled to escape, but their prisons were firm.

Asami came over to join her, placing a hand on the small of her back. Her face was pale with genuine fear. "Are you okay? That was really scary," she said.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Korra assured her, breathing heavily. Though she didn't admit it out loud, the fight had scared her, too. Only one other person had ever attacked her that mercilessly: Zaheer. She took a couple of deep breaths, keeping her memories at bay.

She approached the two earthbenders. One was a man and one was a woman. They were both glaring at her, and she could tell from the muscles on their necks that they were both still straining to break free. "Who are you?" Korra demanded. "What is going on here?"

The two prisoners did not answer, just glared and made noises that Korra could only describe as snarls.

"What are we going to do with them?" asked Asami.

"We'll handle this," said a voice from behind them. Korra and Asami turned to see two uniformed BSSPD officers. "You girls can step aside."

Korra bristled at his use of the word "girls," but she and Asami stood aside as the cops approached the ice-entombed prisoners.

"Release them," one of the officers commanded.

"Get ready," said Korra. "These two are dangerous. You might want to get your cuffs out."

"Don't tell me how to do my job," snapped the officer. "You may be the Avatar but you don't know anything about law enforcement."

Korra's eyes flashed with anger. "Officer, you did not see these two fighting. I did. I'm telling you, you're going to need those cuffs."

The officers both rolled their eyes, but they did take their platinum handcuffs off their belts.

"Good," said Korra. "I'll release them one at a time. Are you ready?"

"Just do it, Avatar."

With a wave of her hand, she melted the ice tomb that was holding the female prisoner in place. And then, everything was chaos.

There was a loud bang and Korra found herself knocked on her back, hitting her head painfully on the ground, Asami beside her. She saw one of the apples they had bought earlier come out of the bag and roll away towards the gutter. The bangs continued, and the earth around them shook. Blinking stars out of her eyes, Korra jumped to her feet to see what was going on. She regained her senses just in time to see the ice prison around the male prisoner shatter. It looked as though the female and the police officers had shaken the ground around the ice tomb until it was damaged enough for the ice to break away. Korra had no idea who had attacked her and Asami, but something told her it was one of the police officers. As she watched, the two prisoners turned and ran away down the street, in the opposite direction from where the first two people had run off.

"What are you doing?" shouted Korra at the officers, blood churning with rage. "Why did you do that?"

The two officers burst in to mocking laughter. They laughed so hard that they fell to their knees and pounded the ground beneath them.

Seeing red, Korra's immediate inclination was to go in to the Avatar state and show these two police officers exactly what it meant to be the most powerful bender in the world. But then she felt a familiar touch on her arm, and she looked over at Asami, who had stood up and was pointing down the street. She understood that Asami was saying something to her, but she couldn't hear over the rushing in her ears. "What?" she snapped, trying not to direct her anger at Asami.

"We need to go after them!" she repeated, still pointing where the two benders had run off to.

Korra nodded at her and they ran after the escaped benders, ignoring the police officers and their continued mirth. They reached the end of the street just in time to see their targets turn right… and run directly into an enormous jumble of spirit vines. Other people might hesitate to run headlong in to a spirit forest, but not Korra. However, just as she reached the opening where the two people had disappeared, the vines did something they hadn't done to Korra since the early days of their arrival in Republic City, just after Harmonic Convergence: They shut her out. They pulled themselves in and closed the gap, making it impossible for Korra and Asami to follow.

Skidding to a stop just in time to avoid a collision, Korra slammed her fists on the vine in frustration, cursing loudly. She turned her back to the vines and took a few steps away, putting her hands in her hair and pacing, trying to relieve her fury. "I can't believe that just happened," she yelled at no one in particular. "What were they _thinking_? Did they let those two go just to make a _point_?"

Asami approached her hesitantly. "Hey," she said quietly, "it's okay, Korra."

"How is it okay?" she countered snappily. "The _police_ just _let_ them get away! Those were two _very_ dangerous benders!"

"I know, Korra, I know. But please, just take a deep breath. You're scaring me," Asami said, her brows knit with concern, her eyes filling with tears.

This made Korra stop in her tracks and look at Asami. She couldn't bear the thought of Asami being afraid of her. She closed her eyes and honored Asami's request, taking a long, deep breath and letting it out slowly, releasing the rage that burned like a wildfire within her. When she opened her eyes again, she looked at Asami, who looked back and smiled weakly at her. Asami stepped forward and kissed her lightly, rubbing her thumb along Korra's jaw. "There she is," she whispered so softly that it was barely audible. "There's my girl."

Korra returned the meek smile. "Here I am," she replied, remembering the morning of her wedding, when she had told her parents that Asami could always bring her back. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. You know I would never hurt you, right?"

"I know."

They retraced their steps towards the train station. Their bags were still lying in the street, so they collected them and looked around for any sign of the two police officers, but it seemed they had left already. Pedestrians who had fled the fight were now returning to linger in the area and gossip about what had just happened. They pointed at the damaged street and a splotch of blood on the ground.

"We'll have to let Genly know he needs to send someone out to repave this street," said Korra as they climbed the stairs up to the tram tracks. "Unless you're planning to have Future Industries do it."

"Paving is a municipal job," said Asami. "It's paid for out of the city's money. We'll make them do it because it'll leave less money for the BSSPD, those scumbags."

"Good plan." They sat together on the train, thinking about what had happened. "What should we do? We just watched the BSSPD intentionally release dangerous criminals in to the city. Is this enough for Genly to punish them?"

"I don't know," replied Asami thoughtfully. "We don't actually have any proof. The ground is torn up, but that only proves there was fighting. The BSSPD could just say that they all got away. No one but us knows that you had those two on ice. It's their word against ours." She sighed and shook her head. "I don't want to think about this anymore right now. Let's just focus on getting ready for the party."

"You're right. We've got a lot of mouths to feed tonight."

"I'm glad to hear you say that, Miss Piggy, because now I know you know that you're not allowed to eat all the food before the guests arrive."

Korra made an affronted noise. "How dare you," she said. "That's _Mrs._ Piggy to you."


	13. Housewarming

Chapter 13: Housewarming

The first guests to arrive were Genly, Therem and Mako. They were right on time— _exactly_ on time, down to the minute.

"Wow," said Korra when she opened the door and saw them. "You guys are punctual."

"It comes with being President," said Genly. "Even my bathroom breaks are scheduled in."

Korra laughed as she stood aside to let them in. As Mako passed, she grabbed his arm and held him back. "Is he serious?" she whispered. "Does he really plan his bathroom breaks?"

"That's classified, Korra," replied Mako. Without another word, he walked away to go say hello to Asami.

Next to arrive was Asami's construction foreman Koti, and she was carrying a pie that smelled like heaven. "Where can I drop this?" she asked as Asami took her coat for her.

"In to my mouth," said Korra, drooling a little. "What kind of pie is that?"

"It's peach," Koti told her. "My mother baked it. It's an old family recipe."

Leaning closer to sniff, Korra said: "Well it smells incredible."

"Get that pie away from her," said Asami as she returned from the closet. "I didn't let her eat anything we were cooking so I know she's starving. If you don't keep an eye on her, she'll eat the whole thing before anyone else gets a slice."

"Meanie," said Korra, sticking her tongue out at Asami. But Asami was amused to note that Korra kept her eyes on the pie as Koti took it to the kitchen.

A few minutes later there was another knock on the door. Wu marched right in to the apartment the moment Korra opened the door, singing: "Your buddy Wu is here! The time to party is near! Have no fear, because Wu is here!"

"Why did we invite you?" asked Korra, shaking her head and closing the door.

"Because a party just isn't a party without your buddy Wu," he replied, waggling his eyebrows.

Varrick and Zhu Li's entrance was only slightly less dramatic. As usual, Zhu Li's camera was glued to her shoulder, and she zeroed in on Asami immediately. Varrick walked right up to Genly and started a conversation. From what Asami could hear, it sounded like he was sharing plans for a big event in the city that he thought might boost morale. Asami had a nasty suspicion that by "event," he meant a mover premier.

While Asami was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the kabobs they were making, the last three guests arrived. Korra thought that Lu Cee and Ren looked a little nervous as they stood outside the apartment holding containers filled with freshly-baked pastries, but Gabi was positively vibrating with excitement. Everyone chuckled as she went around the apartment, introducing herself to everyone and asking their names. Ren, Lu Cee and Korra followed her, Korra facilitating introductions between the two women and the other adults.

Gabi stopped in front of Genly and waved up at him. "You are really, really tall!" she observed with amazement.

"Yes I am," replied Genly with a kind smile.

"Genly, this is Lu Cee, Ren and Gabi. Asami and I met them at the market in the middle ring," said Korra. "And this is Genly Ai, President of the Earth Republic."

"The President?" echoed Ren in amazement. "You're President Ai?" She looked at her partner. "Lu, we're attending the same party as President Ai."

"I see that," said Lu Cee. "It's great to meet you. We think you're doing a great job."

"Better than great," added Ren. "It's a real honor to meet you, sir. The new Constitution is a thing of beauty."

"Thank you," said Genly as he shook each woman's hand, "but I can't take all the credit for that one. It was truly a country-wide effort. So what line of work are you two in?"

"I'm a baker," said Lu Cee. "I have a little shop in the middle ring."

"And I'm a lawyer," said Ren, and Genly's eyebrows rose.

"Fascinating!" he said. "How is that working out for you?"

The practice of law was young in the city of Ba Sing Se. It was only as old as the new Constitution. Under the monarchy, there was no need for anyone to interpret the country's laws because the monarchy had the only say. To allow anyone to fight for their own rights was to allow treason, according to the former royal family. But the new Constitution allowed for all citizens to exercise their freedoms at will. The complicated nature of the new government had created the need for lawyers who knew the law with all its nuances and could translate common language in to legalese, and vice versa.

"It's going pretty well," Ren told him. "I just opened an office in the lower ring about three months ago."

"What sort of law do you practice?" asked Mako, who had come over when he'd heard Ren mention being a lawyer.

"Mostly family law, like child custody cases, although I've had to take a couple of property rights cases to pay the rent on the new office. I love it all, but nothing beats the feeling you get from doing something good for a family."

Genly couldn't have agreed more. It was the best part of his job to know that he was doing something good for the people of the Earth Republic. "Have you ever considered running for public office?" he asked.

"Who, me?" said Ren, looking at him like he was crazy.

"Yes, you," said Genly with a chuckle. "It's not that strange a question. Many of the people who ended up becoming representatives in congress were at first working jobs like yours."

"But I don't know anything about politics. I wouldn't know what to do."

"Sure you would," said Mako. "You'd pick it up fast. Plus you could always hire someone like me to follow you around and give you a little nudge when you get off track."

"It's true. I'd be lost without Mako," said Genly. "Anyway, Ren, it's something to think about. Eventually Ba Sing Se will have to elect a representative in congress. Or if you wanted to start small, you could run for a more local office, like the school board or city council."

Lu Cee looked at her partner appraisingly. "I could see her doing that," she concluded after a moment. "She'd be good at it. She's very personable."

"And pretty," added Gabi, who hadn't been paying attention to the conversation for a while because Lu Cee had given her a plate full of goodies to eat. But the sound of Lu Cee's voice had made her look up and participate.

The adults laughed. "And pretty," agreed Lu Cee.

As the evening continued, people mingled and talked, catching up with and getting to know each other. Korra was talking to Varrick about trying to convince Asami to do the docu-mover when she looked around and realized she hadn't seen Asami in several minutes. Zhu Li, who had given up on filming to enjoy the party, had seen her go in to the kitchen, so Korra left them to go find her.

"Quit hiding," she said when she found Asami slicing apples and placing them neatly on a plate, arranging them around a bowl of honey in the center. "There's already so much food out there, people are getting stuffed."

"I have it on good authority that apples and honey are Gabi's favorite sweets," said Asami. She finished with the last apple and washed the sticky juice off her hands. As she dried her hands on a cloth, Korra walked over and hugged her, putting one hand behind her head to draw her in to a kiss.

"Mmm," hummed Korra. "You're _my_ favorite sweet."

Asami laughed, tucking a strand of hair back behind Korra's ear. "One of us is sweet, that's for sure."

"You know what I've been thinking about tonight?"

"No, what have you been thinking about?" Asami said with obvious affection.

"I've been thinking that we threw a pretty good party. Everyone's enjoying themselves, and we got so many of our friends together all at the same time. It's amazing, really. How often do we see all of our friends at the same time?"

"Not very often," said Asami. "We're a busy bunch."

"We are. But you know what the most special thing about tonight is?"

"What?"

"You're here," said Korra simply. "It's great to have everyone all together, but it wouldn't be nearly as great if you weren't here. There's nothing in my life that doesn't feel more special because you're a part of it. So thank you, Asami. Thanks for making every day of my life extraordinary."

Butterflies fluttered in Asami's stomach. Sometimes she couldn't believe how lucky she was. Many mornings when she awoke next to Korra she had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't still dreaming. Korra was the most incredible person she'd ever known. She was so strong and smart and beautiful, and Asami loved her more with each passing day. That Korra returned her love so completely seemed a gift the likes of which she'd never be able to repay.

There were no words that could do justice to these thoughts. Forgetting that they had an apartment full of people, Asami leaned down to kiss Korra again, letting their lips slide together slowly as they each savored the contact. Korra's hair was soft between Asami's fingers, her cheek smooth against her palm.

From the doorway there was a sharp: " _Ahem_!" It was a voice the two women knew instantly. They separated from each other and stared at Bolin, who was standing in the doorway with his hands on his hips. "You two left your own party to go make out in the kitchen? That is so rude!"

"Bolin!" shouted Korra, throwing her arms around him in a huge hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Keeping you guys decent, apparently," he replied as he hugged Asami. "Who knows what would have happened if I hadn't shown up when I did."

"Come on, Bolin," Korra pleaded. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see you, but what are you really doing here?"

"Helping you," he answered with a grin. "Opal and I talked about it, and we're here to join your team. Mako told me about this party and I wanted to surprise you."

"Yay!" cheered Korra. "I'm so happy to hear that! Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it, Korra. When the Avatar asks you for a favor, you do it. If you're not balancing the earth, you're just… unbalancing it. Or whatever."

Not long after Bolin and Opal arrived, Lu Cee, Ren and Gabi had to leave because Gabi was falling asleep sitting up. They thanked Korra and Asami for the invitation, and Asami made plans with Ren to meet up for lunch sometime next week in the lower ring. Koti also said goodnight, as she had an early morning ahead of her—construction had begun in the lower ring. After those four had gone, Korra felt more comfortable discussing her training with the Dai Li with everyone. She filled them all in on what they'd done so far. Every test she'd given them had been successful. They'd even managed to get a couple of spirits in the upper ring to stop harassing pedestrians as they crossed a foot-bridge over a canal.

"So what's the next step?" asked Mako.

"Well, we need to start recruiting," replied Korra. "Now that Bolin and Opal are here they can focus on that, and then I can start bringing the team down to the lower ring to help smooth out some of Asami's projects."

"Have you had any trouble down there, Asami?" inquired Therem. "We've been hearing reports about some fighting between gangs. Apparently it can get pretty violent."

"Koti and I haven't seen any fights in the lower ring, but Korra and I actually saw one today in the middle ring," said Asami. She relayed the story of the fight and the ensuing infuriating actions of the police officers.

Genly was obviously deeply troubled by the story. "Did you get the names of the officers?"

"No," said Korra regretfully. "They were gone by the time we came back from going after the two benders."

"Could you pick them out of a lineup?" suggested Wu. "Maybe I could go do a concert at the station and you two could come and point out which ones did it and then I can sic some badger moles on the jerks!"

"Now that sounds like a great idea," muttered Varrick sarcastically.

Offended, Wu said: "Well I don't see _you_ coming up with any ideas, Varrick."

"Actually, I _do_ have an idea," he shot back. "It's the same idea I've had all along! The docu-mover about Asami!"

Asami sighed and rolled her eyes. "How is that in any way related to this conversation?"

"Did you get the fight on camera?" Varrick asked pointedly. "Because you _could_ have, if you'd let us record you! If you just said yes to the mover then you'd have all the proof you needed!"

Everyone stared at him. "He's not wrong," said Mako.

"But you already missed the event, Varrick. There's no point to it now," said Korra.

"There will be more," said Therem. "I'm certain of it. We get reports of fights in the lower ring roughly three times as often as we get them from the middle ring."

Pointing at Therem but staring at Asami, Varrick said, "See?"

"Plus, there's the thing we caught on camera the other day," added Zhu Li.

"What thing?" said Asami.

"The spirit that disappeared in the bush, remember? Here, I brought you the tape." Zhu Li dug around in her bag and removed a roll of film. "It's a copy, so you can keep that one. Varrick and I have the original at home."

Asami was embarrassed to admit that she'd totally forgotten about that incident. Her week had been so chaotic. Future Industries was scrambling to assemble damage survey teams, while also trying to line up all the contracts, clearances and materials needed to begin work on those three dangerous sites in the lower ring. Though she'd mentioned it to Korra the day that it happened, she hadn't thought about the incident with the spirit at all since then. "Thanks," she said as she took the tape. "We may need to take a trip to Republic City to show this to Haku."

"What exactly are we talking about?" asked Bolin, his eyes bouncing from speaker to speaker as the conversation moved around him. For the benefit of everyone who hadn't heard the story, Asami retold the event. When she had finished, Bolin said: "Bizarre."

"It was. I take it you've never seen that happen to a spirit before either?"

"No," he said. "Korra, you said the vines shut you out when you tried to chase after those benders?"

"Yeah," confirmed Korra. It hadn't occurred to her to connect the two events, but now it did seem to make sense.

"Bizarre," Bolin repeated.

Aside from Korra, Bolin was the person in the room with the most experience with the spirits, so his ideas about the events were very valuable. Everyone waited for him to continue, but when nothing else seemed forthcoming, Mako prodded him to go on. "Do you think the two things are related?"

"Oh, definitely," he said immediately. "Things relating to the spirits tend to be uniform. Vines and spirits are on the same page, for the most part. But that's about all I can say. I bet Haku will know something though."

"People, people, we're losing sight of what's really important," interjected Varrick. "Asami needs to let us film her!"

"Why does it have to be me?" said Asami testily. "Why don't you follow Bolin around? He's already a mover star."

"Yeah!" agreed Bolin, his eyes lighting up. "That would be so fun!"

But Zhu Li was shaking her head solemnly. "It has to be Asami," she said firmly. "Just trust us; it's got to be her. Look, Asami, you may not realize it but you have a magnetism that people respond to. No one could be a more perfect subject for a docu-mover. People would _want_ to watch a mover about you."

Asami blushed as a general murmur of agreement went around the room. She didn't look over at Korra, but she could picture the grin that would undoubtedly be pasted on her face. By the end of the exchange, Varrick had agreed to give Asami yet more time to think about the docu-mover, but it was obvious that his patience was wearing thin.

It was starting to get late now and one by one the guests began to leave. As Korra and Asami stood by the door to say goodbye to Genly, he said: "I feel terrible that I can't do more about the BSSPD situation, but I worry that any decisive move I make will be taken poorly by the citizens of Ba Sing Se. The last thing we need right now is civil unrest."

"I know," said Korra. "It's alright. We've dealt with this kind of thing before." Genly, Therem and Mako were the last guests to leave, and after Korra closed the door behind them, she turned to Asami and said: "Now that I think of it, we _have_ dealt with this kind of thing before."

"What, police corruption?" asked Asami as she began to gather plates and cups from various surfaces in the apartment.

"Not exactly, but you spent all that time in Republic City being stalked by Tom Regent. This kind of feels the same to me. If what Therem says is true, then you could find yourself in a fight at any moment while you're down in the lower ring, and we can't count on the BSSPD to help. In fact they might even contribute to the problem."

"I know what you're going to say. You want me to bring my glove to work."

"Am I being too paranoid?"

"No," Asami assured her. "You're probably right. After that fight earlier today, I'll feel better having my glove with me anyway."

The idea of Asami getting involved in a fight like the one Korra had been in with those two earthbenders caused the bottom of Korra's stomach drop out. It wasn't that she didn't have faith in Asami's fighting abilities, but benders were dangerous even to other benders, and Asami wouldn't have the benefit of projectile weaponry. Plus, those two gang members she'd fought were fighting to the death. It wouldn't be like the Equalists, who'd been interested only in the removal of bending. Or Unalaq, who'd been more intent on destroying Raava than Korra, her vessel. Or Kuvira, who'd sent lackeys to capture Wu but not kill him. No, this was more like… More like Zaheer, who had forcibly drawn Korra in to the Avatar state and tried to kill her to end the Avatar line entirely. That was what Korra had faced earlier that day, and what Asami could face in the lower ring.

The more she thought about it, the worse her fear became. Asami took a stack of dishes in to the kitchen, and Korra followed her. "Don't go to the lower ring," she said seriously.

Asami put the dishes in the sink and turned to look at her. "I knew you were going to say that, too."

"It's too dangerous. Send Koti, or get Lee to come here or something. Just don't go."

"Korra, we can't know for sure what will happen down there. Maybe I'll never see any fighting at all, or maybe I will. But I can't let fear control my life. I have a job to do in Ba Sing Se, and no one else can do it."

"Someone else _can_ do it. Lee or Koti," said Korra. "They're both really good earthbenders, right?"

Shaking her head, Asami turned her back to Korra and began washing the dishes. "How many times are we going to have this conversation, Korra?"

"I'm just worried about you. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you." Korra went to stand next to her at the sink, trying to get her to make eye contact, but Asami wouldn't look at her. "Asami," she said.

"No," said Asami firmly. "I'm not going to talk about this anymore. You know how I feel." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Korra was going to say something else, so she cut her off, angrily snapping: "Don't you understand that it's painful for me, too?"

Korra had no answer for that.

"When you try to keep me from doing these things, it's painful. I hate that you're afraid of me getting hurt. I hate that it causes you anxiety, because I know that I don't have any other choice. I have to do this. I have to figure out what I can do to save this city. We both knew that when we decided to come here, and you of all people should know what it's like to have a destiny. I'm going to go to the lower ring no matter what. You telling me how worried you are only makes it worse."

Her voice broke on the last word and she swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. Without looking at Korra, she plunged her hands back in to the soapy water, fighting back the rest of her tears. Then she felt a warm touch on her arm, and she looked up in to clear blue eyes that were clouded with pain. "I'm sorry," Korra whispered. "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize…"

And suddenly they were kissing with such passion that Korra swore could feel Asami's heart beating right against her own. She put her hands on Asami's waist and lifted her up to sit on the counter, feeling Asami wrap her legs around her. Asami's hands were still wet when she buried them in Korra's hair, and the feeling only added to the sensory overload in which she was suddenly drowning. "I love you," gasped Asami as one of Korra's hands went under her shirt.

"I love you too, Asami. I love you so much."

When they finally came to rest against one another some time later, it occurred to Korra that they were somehow lying on their bed, tangled up in the sheets. "When did we move in here?" she asked, grinning when Asami laughed in to her shoulder, her breath tickling her bare skin.

"I'm not sure, but I definitely think my shirt fell in the sink."

"You noticed that, huh? Sorry about that."

"No big deal. It was worth it."

They lapsed in to silence, Korra absent-mindedly tickling Asami's back. She didn't want to think about the little fight they'd had, but she knew it was important that she remember it. She'd failed to see that her words and actions were causing Asami pain, and it was a mistake she never wanted to repeat. This line of thought reminded her of her private musings about Asami's lingering pain over her relationship with her father. They'd been so busy with the move that they hadn't talked about that topic at all. And right now didn't seem like a good time to bring it up, not with the warm, drowsy, happy mood that had surrounded them like a comfortable blanket.

But there was another topic she was perfectly willing to bring up. "You should let Varrick make that mover about you," she said quietly.

Asami raised her head and looked at her.

"It would be great," said Korra. "Zhu Li is right. People really do flock to you. But if you need another reason, just consider it a favor to the city of Ba Sing Se. Try not to think of it as a mover about you, think of it as a mover about the reconstruction of this city."

For a long moment, Asami said nothing. She traced Korra's collarbone with her finger, watching its progress and the contrast of their skin tones. The light caught her wedding ring as she trailed her finger back and forth. "Do you think it would help the city?" she asked finally.

"Yes. Maybe not right away, but someday down the line when people want to learn the history of the city, they'll be able to watch the mover about Asami Sato, the woman who brought balance to Ba Sing Se."

Asami rolled her eyes. "Oh, please."

"I'm serious," Korra insisted. "You think people won't remember your name for years to come in Republic City? You're already famous, Asami. You might as well let Varrick create this tribute to you. I have my statue in the park, and you'll have your mover on the screen."

Putting her head back on Korra's shoulder, Asami gave a little groan of annoyance. "Alright," she grumbled. "Fine. I'll let him make the stupid mover."

Korra tipped her chin back up and kissed her. "Good. I think it's the right thing to do. Plus we'll get to attend a fancy mover premier together. That could be fun, right?"

"Don't push it," said Asami. But as she drifted off to sleep, she was already imagining a night like the ones she used to enjoy in Republic City, when everyone was dressed in their finest evening wear and the city around her seemed filled with magic. Having Korra by her side during an event like that gave it a fairy-tale quality in her imagination, and she knew with a certainty that yes, it _would_ be fun.


	14. The Tunnel

**Chapter 14: The Tunnel**

Asami stood at the top of the Great Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se, looking out at the rolling hills of the countryside beyond. This was the same spot on the wall on which Avatar Aang and his friends had once stood and watched Princess Azula approach in a huge caterpillar-like drilling machine that threatened to destroy the solid protection of the stone barrier. But with the help of Toph Bei Fong, Katara, and Katara's brother Sokka, the Avatar had been able to protect the Earth Kingdom's capital city from the Fire Nation invaders.

She turned her back on the open countryside, instead looking inward at the streets of the lower ring. Then she walked right up to the edge, looking straight down at the deep scar in the brick through which spirit vines were growing. Beside her stood Koti, Varrick, and a few members of the White Lotus, who were here to help her determine where the vines might be coming from without having to destroy the wall itself.

"This is exactly where the battle took place?" she asked one of the White Lotus, an old man who was a scholar of history at the University of Ba Sing Se.

"This is precisely where it happened," he confirmed. "There are scars on the outside portion of the wall, too, from where the lady Azula's terrible machine bit in to the wall's protection."

"It wasn't a terrible machine," replied Asami absently as she crossed back to the other side of the wall and looked down, trying to see the damage of which he had spoken. "It was just being used for a terrible purpose. The design was actually very clever." She straightened up and turned to look at Koti. "Can you tell if it's still solid?"

Koti frowned and shook her head. "I never learned how to do that," she said, referring to the ability to "see" using earthbending, also known as seismic sensing.

After thinking it over for a moment, Asami decided: "Let's break for lunch. I have a friend who recently arrived in the city who can tell us what's happening inside the wall. We'll send for him and have lunch while we wait."

It had been just over a month since the housewarming party that she and Korra had thrown. She'd been letting Varrick and Zhu Li film her, on the condition that they stayed out of her way. The married couple had been taking turns filming her, and she'd grown used to having one of them following her with the camera. She hardly even noticed them anymore. Today she was being filmed by Varrick, who had respected her wishes and not said a single word.

Asami sent a messenger out to find Bolin. He was wrapped up in tryouts for the Balance Team, but Opal could take over while Asami borrowed him for a couple of hours. The tryouts had been reasonably successful—they'd already recruited several non-earthbenders for the Team, and they were currently training with Korra and the former Dai Li members on the upper ring.

About once a week Asami would meet up with Ren and Gabi for lunch, and today was one of the days she'd planned to do that. The two of them were already seated at the restaurant when Asami arrived. "Sorry I'm late," she said as she gave Gabi a hug and sat down. "I was up on the wall."

"Really?" said Ren with interest. "I've never been up there. The security is pretty tough."

"Well they had to let me up. There are vines growing inside the wall," said Asami grimly. "We're trying to figure out what to do."

" _Inside_ the wall?"

"Yes, all the way through it, at least in that one spot. I have teams checking the rest of the perimeter, but so far it looks like that's the only place that's been compromised."

"Thank goodness," said Ren.

When they'd first started meeting for lunch, Ren had been intimidated by the younger, wealthier Asami Sato. Asami seemed larger than life. She was a central figure in the city, and a very busy woman. Future Industries, Ren had learned, was simply not functional without her. It was _her_ company. It might as well be considered a huge company that's one job was to listen to and take commands from Asami Sato, because there was no one in the world who knew better than she did. She was sharp, intelligent, and forceful. Not to mention, she was the wife of the _Avatar_. It hardly seemed like Ren and Asami should even have met, let alone become friends.

But as they'd gotten to know each other, Ren had realized that actually, she and Asami had a lot in common. They were both interested in law and human rights issues, and Ren had found that she'd been more than able to hold her own in a conversation about the reconstruction of Ba Sing Se. It was clear that Asami truly valued her input, and Ren was happy to give it. Asami never made her feel like she was anything other than an equal in every way. Their recreational interests were similar, too. They both had taken martial arts classes, though Asami was far more accomplished then Ren had ever been, even when she'd been Asami's age. They liked the same kinds of books—both Ren and Asami devoured mysteries like they were potato chips. And most importantly, Gabi loved Asami. Ren had gotten used to hearing Gabi chatter on and on to her friends about Asami as they rode the tram every day.

Conversation flowed easily between the three at the table. Ren told Asami about a property rights issue she'd been working on. "The tenant feels like she shouldn't have to pay for a room she can't use. She's arguing that since the vine is preventing her from entering the second bedroom, she should be paying the rent of a one-bedroom apartment."

"That seems reasonable," said Asami, helping Gabi use her chopsticks to pick up a clump of rice.

"It does, but there's no legal precedent for something like this. None of the property laws coming out of the Earth Palace are applicable in this scenario. The problem is that we don't have a rep in congress for Ba Sing Se, and no one else in the Earth Republic is dealing with an issue like this. Laws that apply only to Ba Sing Se don't even make it out of committee, let alone reach the floor to be voted on. No one has time for a city that can't speak for itself."

"If it makes you feel any better, Genly knows that it's an issue. He does intend to put a representative for Ba Sing Se in congress, but he can't do it until things here are under control. Opening the city up for control outside of the federal government right now would be a disaster."

"How so?" asked Ren.

"For one thing, the reconstruction would come out of his hands. It would open up the work for bidding for every company that wants to bid. And if that happened, there's a chance that the city might up being built by someone other than me." She paused, realizing how that sounded. "Sorry, I'm not trying to sound selfish. It's just that it's important for the city to be balanced between the humans and the spirits. If the company that builds the city ignores what the spirits want, things here would only get worse. The spirits would be very angry."

Ren considered this. "I can understand why the city needs to be balanced," she said haltingly, "but, isn't that the Avatar's job? Did the President give you the contract because you're married to the Avatar?" Even though she'd met Genly and spent several hours with him, she still didn't feel comfortable calling him by his first name.

"Not exactly," said Asami. "Times have changed, Ren. Korra isn't the only person who needs to be protecting and bringing balance to the world. That's why she's assembling the Balance Team. We all need to work towards that common goal."

"I guess I never thought of it that way. Is that how things are in Republic City now?"

"Yes. We worked very hard to make the spirits feel welcome there, and we're going to do the same thing here. And I know how to do that. With me, Genly can be sure that Ba Sing Se will end up in the best shape possible."

"I get it. That's a good point, and I can see why the President would be worried. But it doesn't solve my property rights case," mused Ren.

Nodding sympathetically, Asami said: "I know. Maybe you really should run for office like Genly said, Ren. You've got a good eye for spotting things that need to get done. If you got elected to a municipal office you'd be able to close all these holes in the law that you're running in to."

Ren shrugged and said nothing, but Asami could tell that it was an idea she was actually beginning to consider.

After lunch Asami returned to the area of the wall she'd been at earlier. She was pleased to find Bolin there already, hanging around all by himself. Apparently Koti had not yet returned from lunch. "Hey," he said when Asami approached. "I got your message, obviously. What do you need?"

She pointed at the vines growing in the wall. "Check that out," she said.

Bolin shielded the sun from his eyes with his hand as he looked up at the towering wall. When he saw the vines, his jaw dropped. "Holy moley!" he cried. " _How?_ "

His bafflement was reassuring to Asami in a strange way. At least now she knew she wasn't the only person who was confused. The vines had a specific pattern of growth. They started at the bottom and moved to the top. From where they grew out of the ground, they were always exposed to open air for little while. They didn't grow directly under man-made structures. They grew right next to them and then stretched up the sides of the structures. But Asami had checked the base of both sides of the wall and had seen no vines growing nearby that led over the wall. It looked like they were somehow coming through the ground _inside_ the wall, and any break from the pattern in the vines couldn't be a good sign.

"That's what you're here to find out, my friend. Can you take a look inside the wall and see what in the world is happening up there?"

"No problem," he said. "Let's go."

Using earthbending, Bolin lifted them both up to the top of the wall. Once at the top, he sat on the stone and took his shoes off. Then he stood, closed his eyes, took a deep breath and stamped his right foot. Asami waited, watching his expression. His brow furrowed as his earthbending senses revealed the inside of the wall to him, but he didn't speak. Instead he lifted his foot and slammed it again, much harder this time. Then he did it a third time, and Asami winced, wondering how that could possibly not be painful for him.

Finally he opened his eyes. "I can't tell what's going on," he said. "I can feel that the vines are weaving through tiny cracks in the stone, and that they are growing from the direction of the ground. But I think maybe we're too high up for me to get a better picture of the base. I'm not as good at this as Beifong."

"Let's go back down," suggested Asami. "You can try again there."

At the bottom they met back up with Koti. Asami had forgotten that she hadn't returned from lunch yet, but seeing her there irritated her. She couldn't have her foreman taking too-long breaks; it would set a bad example for the rest of her crew.

Unlike last time, when Bolin slammed his foot on the ground he reacted immediately. He gasped and his eyes flew open. "Tunnel!" he yelled. " _Tunnel!_ "

"What? There are no tunnels in this area," said Asami. "I've practically memorized the blueprints of Ba Sing Se. I would remember if there were tunnels here."

"I don't know what to tell you, Asami. There's definitely a tunnel here. A _big_ one!" He slammed his foot again. "Yep, there it is. And there are the vines. They're growing in the tunnel."

Asami was dumbstruck. She looked at Koti, who shrugged at her. "Can you tell where it leads?" Asami asked.

"Not from here. It must be really long because it goes all the way in both directions."

"What directions?"

Bolin walked a few feet to his right, exactly underneath the hole in the wall. "It's right below me. It runs like this." He pointed his left hand towards the wall and the other one towards the city. From what he'd indicated, the tunnel must run right underneath the curvature of the lower ring. "It's about fifteen feet down, and very wide. It goes under the wall and out in to the countryside. I can feel that the vines in the wall broke through the ground under the wall from the roof of the tunnel."

This explained how it was possible that the vines could grow through the wall. If the vines were exposed to air inside the tunnel, it meant they had the prerequisites needed to facilitate growth. None of the vines in Republic City had ever grown underground, but that didn't mean it wasn't possible. From what Haku had determined in his vine research, vines didn't necessarily need light or water to grow, though they did tend to prosper when they had those things. They only _needed_ air.

Head spinning, Asami leaned against the wall and considered the implications. This tunnel could be bad news. Any construction that would be done on the heavy wall would run the risk of collapsing the tunnel, destroying everything that sat atop it. It would be extremely dangerous to have a crew working there.

And where was it leading? With a start she realized that Bolin had pointed in the general direction of the water treatment plant where the vines were posing another life-threatening danger. The realization gave her a bad feeling. "We need to follow it," she said out loud. "We need to know where this thing comes out."

Asami, Bolin, Koti, Varrick, and Varrick's camera got in to Asami's satomobile and she drove them through the lower ring, stopping periodically so that Bolin could check that they were still following the path of the tunnel. The water plant was two miles away, and as they came closer, Asami was more and more sure she knew what they were about to discover.

The water plant sat at the center of a four-way street junction. When they stopped near the plant, Bolin slammed his foot, paused, frowned, and did it again. He looked around, taking in the abnormally enormous vines in the area and the three other streets around the plant. These vines had grown so huge that they were impossible to penetrate on every street but the one they'd used to drive here, and Koti had informed Asami that this was rumored to be where three different gangs had their hideouts, one per each blocked-off street. People speculated that there was some secret that a person needed to know in order to get through the brambles to the residences beyond.

"The tunnel splits here," Bolin told them. "One goes in each direction, right under the brambles and up in to the street."

This was exactly what Asami had expected to hear. She sighed in frustration. "Crap," she said. "We can't get past these vines." She wandered over to one of the streets, looking at the solid wall of plant matter. The vines in Republic City had never shut Asami out before, and she couldn't understand why the ones in Ba Sing Se were doing this.

Bolin, Koti and Varrick came over to join her, and then, incredibly, the vines parted.

The four of them stared at the opening, which seemed to beckon them in. "Oh," said Asami. "I guess we _can_ get past these vines." They looked at one another, shrugged, and walked in to the forest of vines.

They proceeded with extreme caution. If gangs were in here, it would be difficult to see them coming. Asami flexed her hand, drawing courage from the feeling of her Future Industries electricity glove. Silently, Bolin indicated they should follow him, and the four of them crept through the spirit wilds towards a large building just down the street.

It took them a while to locate the entrance to the tunnel that Bolin had found with seismic sensing. It had been hidden, disguised to look like a storm shelter. They tried to make as little noise as possible as Bolin lifted the heavy wooden doors. With one last glance around them, they each lowered themselves in to the space beyond.

There were lanterns hanging all along the tunnel, and its bottom was worn smooth by frequent use. In fact it was so easy to walk that Asami looked around her constantly, expecting to see another human at any moment. But their luck held as they reached the place where the three different tunnel entrances converged in to one giant underground chamber.

And there, they heard voices. Dozens of them. From what it sounded like, there was some kind of fighting going on. The hairs rose on the back of Asami's neck. If they were spotted now, they would be in big trouble. "We should go back," hissed Bolin, grabbing Asami's arm so tightly that it was painful. "We need to go right now."

But there was something driving Asami on. She didn't know why, but she felt like she _needed_ to see what was going on in that chamber. She silently indicated that they should wait, and she proceeded on her own, walking as softly and gracefully as a cat.

As she got closer to the chamber, the voices grew louder. To prevent having her head visible, she got down in her hands and knees and crawled the rest of the way. At the end of the tunnel she held her breath and carefully poked her head in to the chamber.

Men and women were fighting in the large underground room—fighting brutally. As she watched, a rock launched by one of the combatants hit another, and the sound of the victim's arm breaking echoed around the room with sickening clarity. Completely freaked out, Asami drew back from the entrance and ran back to her companions. " _Go!_ " she whispered sharply.

Her companions did not need to be told twice. They were much less careful leaving the tunnel and the spirit wilds than they had been going in. By the time they got back to the satomobile, all of them were panting and sweaty. "What happened?" asked Bolin, massaging a stitch in his side.

"I found the rest of the Dai Li," gasped Asami, "along with a bunch of members of several different gangs. I don't think they really differentiate between each other. They all seem to hate each other as one big group."

"What do you mean?"

"They were all fighting. Dai Li were fighting other Dai Li, Rocks were fighting other Rocks, Stones were fighting other Stones. They don't seem to have loyalties at all." She replayed the terrible scene in her head, thinking about the other thing she'd noticed. "They were stockpiling something. I don't know what was in them, but they had a huge pile of wooden crates. It must be something they're smuggling. I don't know if they're smuggling it _in_ to the city or _out_ of the city."

Biting his nails, Bolin said: "We should tell someone. Right? Shouldn't we tell someone?"

"Yeah," agreed Asami. _But who?_ Under normal circumstances she'd go to the police, but they already knew the BSSPD wasn't trustworthy. She remembered the list she'd made with Korra that night when Korra had been fretting about the Dai Li. One of the items on the list had been "authority," because the Dai Li didn't have the power to arrest people. On the solution side, Asami had written "Genly." It seemed like the time for the Balance Team of Ba Sing Se to begin their real work for the city had arrived. "No, wait," she said to Bolin. "Don't tell anyone. We can't let the BSSPD hear about this."

"Why not?" asked Koti. She wasn't a part of the Avatar's inner circle, so she wasn't up to speed on everything that was happening in the city.

"They're corrupt," said Bolin bluntly. "And they're stupid. And we hate them."

"Oh," said Koti, giving him a strange look.

"Just trust me, we don't want them getting involved," said Asami.

"Okay, boss," said Koti. "Whatever you say."

Asami dropped Koti off near the tram station where the vines were almost crushing the support pillars. A construction crew was hard at work building additional pillars to brace the suspended track so that it would no longer be in danger of falling on the residences below it. Next Asami was going to drop Bolin off at the gym where Opal was still conducting tryouts for the Balance Team.

"There's something else I wanted to say, but I didn't want to say it with Koti around," said Bolin nervously as they drove.

Glancing over at him, Asami raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"There were no spirits in that spirit wild. Did you notice that?"

"No," said Asami, surprised at her own lack of observation skills. "You're right, though. It was completely deserted."

Which was odd, she thought, because all the spirit wilds in Republic City had always been teeming with spirits. In fact, Asami realized, she'd seen significantly fewer spirits in Ba Sing Se than she'd seen in Republic City. Of course there were some, and they were all just as ornery and irritable as most spirits she'd ever dealt with. But now that she was thinking of it, it did seem unusual that the place wasn't permeated with spiritual life forms.

"Why do you think that is?" asked Bolin, interrupting her thoughts.

Shaking her head, Asami said: "I have no idea."

"Me either."

She dropped him off and headed back to the upper ring, using the only road between the three rings that was passable via car. Asami preferred to take the tram because of the frequent traffic on this narrow, two-lane road, but today she was grateful for the opportunity to sit behind the wheel of her satomobile and organize her thoughts.

She dropped Varrick off at his house on the upper ring. "Great job today, Asami!" he said, the first words he'd spoken to her since that morning. "I got some amazing footage of you being brave!" He turned and went in to the house before Asami had a chance to reply.

By the time she'd pulled up in front of the headquarters of Future Industries, she'd made her decision. In her office she sat down, picked up the phone and dialed the number for the office of Haku Ai, head of the Republic City Balance Task Force.


	15. Haku and Ao

Author's Notes: Sorry for the long delay on this one, folks. :)

Chapter Fifteen: Haku and Ao

Haku and his spirit fox companion stood at the top of the gangway, looking out at the Earth Palace in front of him. The situation had become much more dire since the last time he'd been here almost a year before. He knew it was bad because Asami had described the vines to him over the phone a week ago, but seeing it in person was enough to take his breath away.

"This looks terrible, Ao," he murmured to the fox. "What could be causing the vines to grow this way?"

The fox was his silent but constant companion. Though Ao could not speak as many spirits could, he was nonetheless adept at communicating with Haku. Now Haku understood that Ao had no answer for him, because he simply walked down the gangway and began to sniff around, making his way slowly but surely towards the Palace. It was clear that Ao wanted to investigate the situation, but Haku was on a tight schedule. He was due to meet the Avatar and her wife for dinner in less than an hour, and he wanted to visit his brother first.

He climbed to the top of the stone steps, looking at all the vines growing along the pillars and banisters. When he entered the main hall, the woman sitting behind the desk looked up and stared at him. Haku had long since grown used to this reaction to his appearance. Ever since Ao had entered his spirit to enable his escape from capture by Sen Inc, Haku's hair had been powder blue and his eyes bright yellow. Far from being insulted, Haku smiled pleasantly at the woman, and she finally asked: "Welcome to the Earth Palace. Can I help you?"

"I am Haku Ai, here to see President Genly Ai."

"Oh!" she said, sitting up straighter. "Yes, he's expecting you. I'll take you to him." She got to her feet and came around the desk. "Right this way, sir."

They walked through the palace, their human footsteps echoing loudly. Ao's graceful, padded feet made no such sound, and he walked somewhat erratically along with them, occasionally darting off to different parts of the palace to look at something, only to return a few moments later. As they entered the main hall, Haku saw the vines that had encroached upon the ceiling of the Earth Palace, the same vines that Asami had noticed a few weeks before. "How long have the vines been growing inside the Palace?" Haku asked his guide.

"Quite some time," replied the woman, following his gaze. "It seems like every day they are farther and farther inside the building."

"Has Asami Sato been here to assess the damage?"

"She was here a couple of weeks ago to see the President. I know she saw the damage, but I don't know if there's been talk of any repairs. They haven't said anything to me about it, so I guess it can't be too dangerous."

Haku wasn't sure he agreed with that. He didn't know much about architecture, but he knew enough to guess that those vines could not possibly be considered safe.

They entered the antechamber of Genly's office and were met with another aide, Genly's secretary. Haku's guide left to return to her post at the front of the Palace, and Haku was shown in to his brother's office.

"Haku!" said Genly cheerfully when his brother entered. "It's great to see you!" They embraced warmly.

"You too, Genly," replied Haku.

"Please, sit! Tell me all about what's happening in Republic City."

As Ao curled up on the carpet near the fireplace, Haku told Genly about the progress the Balance Task Force had made. "Chief Beifong has been training with us recently, too," he said, sipping from his teacup.

"Really? I didn't know she had any interest in spirit work. She seems a little too… stubborn."

"She's not stubborn," said Haku. "She's just opinionated. And she's often right."

Genly stared hard at his brother. "Is that so?"

"Yes," replied Haku. There was a long pause, and then Haku cleared his throat and said: "I believe she may be in a relationship with Kya, the daughter of Avatar Aang."

"Are you serious?" said Genly, his mouth falling open. Though most people did not immediately peg Genly Ai as someone who was same-sex oriented, he did have the occasional moments where his mannerisms were tell-tale. This happened to be one of those moments.

"Quite," said Haku, not bothering to hide his amusement.

"But didn't she date her brother Tenzin?"

"Many years ago." Sipping contritely from his tea, he added, "Ancient history, from what I've gathered."

Genly chuckled and shook his head. "Okay then," he said. "I guess we don't get to choose who we love, after all."

After they'd made additional plans to meet up the following day, Haku left to head to Korra and Asami's apartment, Ao following as usual. But as they walked through the streets, Ao began acting strangely. He moved from side to side of Haku, tossing his head to look straight up at the rooftops above him. By the time they were at the correct building, Haku knew that Ao was telling him that they were being followed.

"You may show yourselves," said Haku loudly. "I know you are here."

Figures dropped around him, and Haku knew that they were the Dai Li. "You are Haku Ai," said the man closest to him. "I am Chen."

Haku was surprised. The Dai Li didn't exactly have a reputation for being friendly and personable. "It's nice to meet you," he said, not knowing what else to say.

"You as well," replied Chen. Then, to Haku's surprise, he offered his hand to shake. As they shook hands, he said: "Avatar Korra has told us much about you. We are the Balance Team of Ba Sing Se. You are a leader for both human and spirit kind. We know that you are the head of our brother Team in Republic City, and we hope that you might be willing to share some of your knowledge with us, as long as Avatar Korra thinks it would be okay."

"Oh," said Haku. "Well, I will be sure to ask her about that tonight."

Chen and the other five Dai Li agents grinned. "Great!" he said. "Well, that is all we wanted to say to you, Haku Ai. Have a nice evening."

Then, like their feet were spring-loaded, they bounced away to the rooftops above, and Haku stood alone with Ao on the sidewalk. "Um," he murmured to Ao, "you saw that, too, right? I didn't just hallucinate that?"

Ao wagged his tail and stuck out his tongue, panting. Then he turned and went in to Korra's building, and Haku followed, still dazed.

Korra answered the door with a huge smile on her face, immediately drawing Haku in to a tight hug that reminded him of just how powerful this woman was. No sooner had she released him did Asami take her place, hugging Haku with less brute force but just as much affection. Then Korra and Asami both knelt in front of Ao to scratch him behind his ears, his tail thumping so enthusiastically that Korra was sure the downstairs neighbors could hear it. "Have a seat, have a seat," said Korra, leading Haku and Ao to the couch. "How are you?"

They made small talk for a while, Haku relating the news about Lin and Kya. "What makes you think they're in a relationship?" asked Asami, absently petting Ao, whose head was resting in her lap.

"Well, they have lunch together every day. It's still in the commissary and it's a whole group of us, but Kya has never joined us before."

"Do they sit next to each other?" asked Korra. "I remember before Asami and I got together, I was always trying to sit next to her."

"Really?" said Asami, grinning at her. "You never told me that."

"You never noticed?"

"Of course I noticed. I just thought it was a coincidence or something."

"No," laughed Korra. "It definitely wasn't a coincidence."

"They don't always sit next to each other," said Haku, enjoying the interplay between the two of them. "But they sit _near_ each other. Like Lin will sit on one side of the table and Kya will sit across from her."

"Hmm…" said Korra thoughtfully. "What else?"

"They go on patrol together," said Haku.

"Yep, they're in a relationship," said Korra with finality.

Haku and Asami laughed.

"I'm serious. Do you know how hard it is to go out on missions with Lin Beifong? The woman is a steamroller. She's a total control freak. I don't see how anyone could possibly enjoy doing that kind of work with her on a daily basis unless they liked each other _like that_."

"I'm a control freak and a steamroller," said Asami. "Do you hate going on missions with me?"

"No, I _love_ going on missions with you, and I always have. Which only further proves my point. We work well together because we're compatible. We think similarly and we trust each other. Maybe Lin and Kya are discovering that they have a similar kind of symbiosis."

"Interesting," mused Haku. "It could be. I find it telling that Kya wants to patrol with Chief Beifong, even though she's never been a part of the Balance Task Force directly."

Nodding her agreement, Asami said: "Definitely." She glanced over at Korra, thinking about the friendship they had shared before they'd become romantically involved. Her memories of that time were steeped in a happy, bright quality. Falling in love with Korra had been fun, easy and natural. Every minute they'd spent together had felt like a gift. She remembered the anticipation and excitement when they made plans together, the joy and exhilaration of the execution of those plans, and the endless analysis of the time they'd spent together once she was alone again. Asami had spent hours lying in bed having "does-she-or-doesn't-she" debates inside her head. It had been a very important time in her life, until it had been rudely interrupted by Zaheer's poison. Thinking of those early days made her smile. "How is Lin's temperament lately?" she asked Haku. "Does she seem happier?"

Haku considered this. "You know, I think she does. She hasn't snapped at anyone in a while, and she'd even laughed at a couple of Bolin's jokes before he left."

"Relationship," said Korra, firmly convinced. "Definitely in a relationship."

A timer rang off in the kitchen. "Dinner's ready," said Asami, rising to pull the roast out of the oven. As they ate dinner at the table, Haku relayed the story of his meeting with the Dai Li just outside the building.

"I must admit, the Dai Li seem very different from how I imagined them," he said. "They were downright friendly to me."

"They weren't always like that," said Korra. "They're very rooted in tradition. But they've started to open up over the past couple of weeks while we've been training."

"You'd start joking around a lot too if you spent ten hours a day with Korra," added Asami.

Pretending to be insulted, Korra gasped. "I take offense to that. I'm very professional during Team training."

"Sure you are," replied Asami, rolling her eyes.

"Well whatever you're doing, it's working," said Haku. "They seem to be genuinely excited to learn about the spirits. I'd be happy to come to a few lessons as long as I'm in the city."

"That would be great!" said Korra sincerely. "I know exactly what you can help me teach them, as long as Ao doesn't mind."

After dinner, Haku and Ao left. Once he had gone, Korra and Asami worked together to clean up the kitchen and changed in to their pajamas. "I thought of something else I used to do before we got together," said Korra, leaning against the bathroom doorway and watching Asami brush her teeth.

"What?" asked Asami, bending down to spit in the sink.

"I used to use every opportunity to stare at your butt," said Korra with a devilish smile.

"You did not," laughed Asami.

"I did! Remember when we were trapped in the desert after we were caught by the Earth Queen?"

"Of course I remember that."

"I remember it too. I especially remember how great your butt looked in the desert sun."

Still laughing, Asami came over and slid her arms around Korra. "Pervert," she teased.

"Guilty as charged."

"I did something, too," said Asami. "Something I never told you about."

"Oh, goodie," said Korra, bouncing a little in her excitement. "Tell me."

"This is really embarrassing, but remember right after we got out of the desert and you meditated in to the spirit world to find Zaheer? I offered to watch over you while you meditated, remember?" When Korra nodded, Asami continued: "Well, while you were meditating, I, um… I kissed you."

" _What?_ "

"It was just on your cheek," Asami added hastily. "I felt so stupid, but I couldn't help it. I'd liked you for such a long time, and we were spending so much one-on-one time together that by that point I was pretty sure I was in love with you." She could vividly remember the storm of emotion that had led her to the kiss as she'd sat under that tree watching Korra. She'd studied Korra's lips as they rested against each other, the muscles on her arms, visible even in her meditative position, the strong set of her shoulders, the gentle swell of her breasts. She'd pictured what it would be like if they could be together the way she so desperately wanted. Fantasies of both physical and emotional intimacies had danced through her mind. And there had been melancholy, too. She'd felt so close to Korra, and yet still so far. Remembering that sadness, she said: "But I thought you'd never feel the same way. So I guess I just wanted one kiss, even if it didn't mean anything at all."

A slow smile spread over Korra's lips as she looked up at Asami. "And was it enough? That one kiss?"

"Not even close," replied Asami. "It hurt way more than it helped. I played it over and over in my head afterwards. I thought your skin was so soft, and you smelled so good. I didn't regret doing it, but it haunted me for a long time. I wanted to do it again, for real though. I wanted a kiss where you would kiss me back."

"That's the best kind of kiss. In fact I could really go for a kiss like that right now."

Smiling back at Korra, Asami said: "I was hoping you would say that."

In the morning, Korra and Haku sat in a circle with the Balance Team, preparing them for their lesson. The Balance Team had grown significantly, thanks to Bolin and Opal's recruitment efforts. In addition to the six Dai Li agents, there were four waterbenders, five firebenders, and two airbenders on the Team.

"Today we're going to talk about energybending," said Korra. "This is a highly advanced bending technique that as far as we know, only I can do."

"If only you can do it, then why do we need to learn it?" asked Chen. The former Dai Li agents had grown far more comfortable with asking questions over the time they'd spent with Korra.

"You'll see," replied Korra. "First, we need to hear a story. How many of you have heard of Amon?"

Most of the members raised their hands. Korra nodded at them and launched in to a retelling of what had happened with the Equalist Revolution in Republic City a few years before. She explained how Amon had been able to sever a bender's connection to their element using bloodbending. Then she explained how she was able to restore that connection using energybending.

When Wei raised his hand, Korra pointed at him and he asked: "Is that what Avatar Aang did to take away Firelord Ozai's bending to end the 100 Years War?"

"Very astute," Korra praised him. "That's almost correct. Aang could not bloodbend, as far as we know. He took Ozai's firebending by using the same technique I use to restore it. Amon was using bloodbending to achieve the same effect somehow.

"This leads me to the next story you need to hear. I'm going to tell you the story of the very first Avatar, Avatar Wan."

For the better part of an hour, Korra relayed the story she had relived about Wan. When she had finished, she asked: "Now, why do you think I told you that story?"

"Because the lion turtles used energybending," said Chen. "They used it to give humans their bending."

"That's right," said Korra. "The lion turtle used energybending. What that tells us is that energybending is not regulated to humans only. Spirits in the spirit world use it all the time. They can use it to bend distance, increase their size and form, and even create barriers and bridges. Energybending is also the way that spirits are able to move between the two worlds without the use of a portal. And we've discovered another use for it in Republic City that goes along with that. What we have found is that as long as a lot of people work together, and as long as I am in the group, it is possible for humans to draw spirits in to _this_ world from the _other_ world against their will.

"Obviously this is not a very friendly technique," continued Korra. "It should be used very sparingly. We've only used it once in Republic City. There was a dangerous spirit who was threatening the peace in the spirit world. We drew him to the material world and used the Soothing technique to calm him down."

Haku spoke up, and all heads turned to him. "What is important to know is that in all situations, we must always respect the spirits. This technique is for emergencies only. But it is essential that we learn it, just in case. I've brought my friend Ao with me today, and he is nice enough to help us practice this technique." He motioned to the blue fox, who gave the fox version of a bow. "Again, it isn't pleasant, so I'd like you all to be as gentle as possible. Now, Ao will go to the spirit world, and we will attempt to pull him back."

The Balance Team all got to their feet, arranging themselves in one big circle. "To do this, it's important that you trust one another, and that you trust me," said Korra. "Everyone take someone else's hand." Everyone complied. Korra found herself standing between Chen and Haku. "Now, I want you to close your eyes and attempt to meditate. Try to distance yourself from your own body. Look inward and feel that indefinable thing inside you that makes you who you are. Let it consume your entire body. That is your spirit, your _energy_ , and you must bring it to the surface so that I can sense it, too."

Everyone in the circle furrowed their brows, concentrating hard. Korra concentrated too, reaching out and seeking the energy that she knew to belong to Ao. It was almost like projecting herself in to the spirit world, only she kept one foot on the ground in the material world. She prodded around, finally locating the life energy that she recognized. "Now," she said to the group, "I am going to tug on Ao. You will feel the tug because I will be using your energy to do it. Do not be afraid. Just trust me, and let it happen."

Korra could feel that it wasn't going to work the first time. In this in-between state, she could feel the energy of both humans and spirits alike. She could tell that the energy of the humans was still scattered. In order for the technique to work, all the energy of the humans must be directed towards Korra, because the Team themselves would not be able to bend the energy and use it to pull on Ao. It was as though their energy would actually have to cross the bridge that was Korra, the only human who was also part spirit.

They'd discovered this technique in an ancient old book that Jinora had found in Wan Shi Tong's library in the spirit world. She and Haku had gone there to learn anything they could that would help them. The book in which it had been written had been engraved with a beautiful picture of a lion turtle on the cover. That was why Jinora had picked it up in the first place. The book pre-dated the Avatar line. The summoning technique was an ability that only the lion turtles had ever used, because only they were capable of manipulating energy. But now Korra could do it, too. They'd tried to teach other benders to learn energybending, but they'd been forced to conclude it was probably impossible for everyone but the Avatar. Of course there were special people like Toph Beifong who could use very minor energybending techniques (such as being able to see people from half a world away), but the more intensive techniques were far too taxing and difficult for anyone but Korra to do. If there was ever another problem that required the use of the summoning technique in Republic City, Korra would have to fly back to help.

It took all day, but as the sun sank down behind the Earth Palace, the circle of humans finally managed to forcefully grab Ao and bring him back in to the material world. He appeared in the middle of the circle as if he had been dragged over by his tail. As soon as he arrived he huddled in the middle and whimpered, and Haku dashed over to gather him in his arms. "Thank you, my friend," he whispered to the fox, and the fox's blue tail wagged weakly. "You can rest now."

"Good job, guys," said Korra, trying to distract the group from the sight. "Very nice work. We're done for the day, you can go on home." As the group dispersed, Korra walked up to Haku and Ao. "How is he?"

"He will be fine. He is just tired."

Korra knelt and scratched Ao's ears. "Thanks, Ao. I'm going to get you a nice big steak for dinner, how's that sound?"

Ao raised his head and licked Korra's chin.


	16. Making Moves

Chapter 16: Making Moves

The following morning, Haku and Ao met up with Asami at the tram station, and with Zhu Li following silently with the camera they rode down to the lower ring. Asami watched Haku's yellow eyes as they stared at the city below them, deciding not to try to make conversation until they were off the train. There were too many people packed in to the car and she didn't want to cause any panic.

At the bottom the four of them filed out and began walking towards the site of the tram station that Future Industries was doing repairs on. "I see what you mean," said Haku as they strolled along the streets of the lower ring. "The vines here _are_ growing differently."

"They are. I remember how in Republic City, just after Harmonic Convergence, the vines would destroy buildings in the city and threaten people's lives. But it was always in reaction to something that we did. They never directly threatened to bring a ceiling down on top of a building that people were sitting in. But here they're going to destroy the very Earth Palace itself," said Asami.

Upon arriving at the construction site, Koti separated herself from a group of workers and came over to talk to them. "Good morning, boss," she said politely.

"Good morning. Koti, this is Haku Ai, the head of the Republic City Balance Task Force. Haku, this is my construction foreman Koti."

"Nice you meet you," said Haku.

"You as well."

"Why don't you take us on a little tour of the site?" suggested Asami. "Can we get Haku a hardhat please?"

"That might be a little difficult," said Koti nervously. "Won't it squish your ears?"

Haku laughed easily. Ever since his fusion with Ao, he'd been sporting dog-like ears on the top of his head. "Yes, you may be right about that," he said.

Putting her hand on her chin, Asami stared at him thoughtfully. "I think I can fix that," she said. "Go get me a hardhat."

Using a power drill, Asami carefully drilled two holes in one of her company's bright yellow hardhats. Then she smoothed out the holes with sandpaper so that they wouldn't be abrasive on Haku's ears. When Haku put on the hat, his ears poked up through the top. It looked silly, but it was functional. "Perfect fit," said Haku pleasantly.

They began their tour of the construction site. Koti explained what had originally happened to cause the damage, and what they were doing to fix it. "The vines were crushing the support pillars that kept the track up above the city," explained Koti.

"Which pillars?" asked Haku, looking up at the suspended track.

"Um, all of them," said Koti.

" _All_ of them?"

"Yes, all of them. Well, all the ones in the lower ring, anyway."

Haku glanced at Asami, sharing an unspoken thought: That could not possibly be a coincidence.

"What was built underneath the tracks?" he asked.

"I'll show you," offered Asami. "Come to the trailer and we can look at the blueprints." Koti went back to work, but Haku, Ao and Zhu Li followed her to the supervisor's trailer, which was parked just at the edge of the construction site. Inside it, Asami spread out her blueprints of Ba Sing Se. "So here's the track we're talking about. As you can see, you've got residences from here to here," she dragged her finger across the paper. "And then here there's a school, and here there's a hospital…" she trailed off.

"What?" asked Haku.

"A hospital. I don't know why I never noticed that before. One of our other major problem sites is near a hospital."

"It's hard for sick people to move out at a moment's notice," said Haku grimly. "It's like the vines are intentionally targeting people who can't help themselves."

"It does seem that way," said Asami, shaking her head. "We have another site that we're starting work on this week, but it's not a hospital. It's a water treatment plant."

"That could cause an even bigger problem than a hospital."

"You've got that right. The whole city has been drawing water from the plant on the other side of the city, but it's very taxing on the facility." She rolled up her blueprints and put them back in their tube. "Let's go check out the other two sites before we say any more. I want to give you all the information I have before we start speculating."

"Let's do it," said Haku, rising from his chair.

They drove to the place where the vines were growing inside the wall, and Asami told him what Bolin had discovered about the tunnel. Haku used seismic sensing to feel the tunnel himself and said: "Yes, I can see where the tunnel splits, and where it comes out in the countryside."

"You can? Bolin couldn't see that far. We had to drive its entire length in to the city before he could see the three splits."

"I have found that having sharper fox senses has increased my seismic sensing," Haku explained. "In the same way that Ao can smell something miles away, I am able to sense things much farther than most human beings, except perhaps Toph and Lin Beifong."

"Wow," said Asami, impressed. "So where does the tunnel come out in the countryside? We only checked the parts inside the city."

Haku slammed his foot again. "It looks like it comes out in a small patch of trees about a mile from here. The opening is not very wide. Actually, I think there might be…" He slammed his foot once more. "Yes, I'm quite certain that there are currently people walking the length of the tunnel, heading in both directions. And there is a truck parked near the entrance beyond the wall."

"Are you serious? That's happening right now?"

"Quite serious. Do you know who might be using it?"

"Yes, I think I do. When I went down there the other day I saw the missing Dai Li agents and several different gangs fighting. I bet whoever is down there is one of those people." Asami tapped her foot for a second, considering her options. "I want to find out what they're doing," she said.

"It could be very dangerous," said Haku.

"I know, but I think it's a risk we have to take. They were stockpiling something down there. I bet they're busy picking up a load of whatever that thing is. You don't have to come with me if you don't want to, but I'm going to go to the water plant and see if I can sneak back down the tunnel."

"Of course I'll go with you. Korra would never forgive me if I let you do something like this alone."

 _She may not forgive me for doing it at all_ , thought Asami.

The two of them began walking to the water plant. Asami hadn't brought her satomobile because she wanted Haku to see as much of the city as possible. As they walked Asami pointed out other problem areas. Many homes were so covered with vines that it was as if the buildings wore a layer of leafy paint. They passed Gabi's school where kids were outside playing. She looked carefully, but ultimately concluded that Gabi was not among them.

As they approached the water plant, Asami could tell immediately that something was wrong. Three police cruisers were parked end-to-end across the only street through which they could enter the area, creating a barrier that prevented them from going any further. Furious, Asami marched right up to the group of police officers who were milling around near the cars. "What's going on here?" she demanded.

"Official police business," said one of the officers, a short, well-muscled blonde woman. "No citizens allowed beyond this point."

"My name is Asami Sato," said Asami. "This area is under construction and I need to get by to speak to my team."

"Your team isn't here anymore," replied the cop, supremely unconcerned. "We kicked them out." She looked Asami up and down. "So you're the famous Asami Sato, the wife of the Avatar. I was hoping I'd get to meet you."

"And you are?"

"Chief Saigon. Nice to meet you," she said sarcastically.

"A pleasure I'm sure," said Asami. "How's your office door doing?"

Saigon glared at her. "You two think you're so special. You think you can just waltz in to this city and make it in to whatever you want. What right do you have to meddle in our business?"

"The President granted me the right. If you've got a problem with it, maybe you should take it up with him." She took a step towards the barrier and all the police standing there straightened up. "I need to get past," said Asami authoritatively. "This area is causing a public health issue. If you do not let me past, you are liable for anything that happens as a result."

"I'll take my chances," said Saigon. "Move along now."

"No. You cannot stop me from doing my job."

"Why not? I stopped your wife from doing hers. I didn't let her form her stupid little task force."

"No you didn't," laughed Asami. "If you think a little problem like a short, blonde pig-dog is going to stop Korra, then you really don't know what it means to have the Avatar living in your city."

"Pig-dog? Your friend over there is the only dog here," said Saigon, pointing at Haku. The other police officers laughed.

Asami saw red. Cold fury was suddenly running all through her body, her heart pointing loudly in her ears. If she'd been born the Avatar instead of Korra, Asami knew she'd have toppled in to the Avatar state at that moment. "How _dare_ you," she said in a low voice between clenched teeth. She clenched her fist, activating her Future Industries glove.

But a hand came down firmly on her shoulder, shaking her out of her angry trance. She looked over at Haku, seeing him shaking his head at her. "Don't," he said softly. "It's not worth it."

Looking down at the ground, Asami took several long breaths, trying to calm herself down. As she did, she realized something—Ao was nowhere to be seen. She looked up again at Haku and saw him give her the ghost of a wink, and Asami understood that they needed to buy Ao a little more time. Bracing herself for further unpleasantness, she said the first thing she could think of to Chief Saigon: "I hear the roof of your station is covered in vines."

"Yeah, and it's all your stupid wife's fault. Our station was beautiful before she came along and messed everything up."

"That solid gold domed monstrosity? Trust me, that thing was never beautiful," said Haku.

"What can I say? We make a lot of money in this city," replied Saigon. "And we like everyone to know it."

"Oh, everyone knows it," shot back Asami. "Everyone knows about your corruption. Pretty soon authority in this city is going to fall to Korra, you'd better hope she decides on exile instead of prison time."

Asami could tell that her threat had hit home, at least a little bit. It didn't surprise Asami to see that, especially considering that Saigon hadn't even realized that Korra was still going ahead with the creation of a Balance Team for Ba Sing Se. "The Avatar will never be the authority in this city," Saigon said.

"She will," said Asami as she noticed a flash of blue fur behind the police cars. "And soon, too."

Without another word, she and Haku turned and walked off the way they'd come. Once they were a safe distance away, Ao revealed himself and they slipped in to a deserted side alley to talk to him. "What did you see, Ao?" asked Haku.

Ao was clearly agitated. He was running around in tiny circles, making tiny whimpering sounds. Asami had no idea what could cause that reaction, but it couldn't possibly be good.

"Do we need to take care of this immediately?" said Haku, and Ao gave a series of short, frightened-sounding yelps. "Good work. Thank you, my friend." He reached out and patted Ao's head. "What can we do? We won't be able to get past that police barrier."

"No," said Asami thoughtfully, "but I know someone who can."

A few hours later, Asami, Haku, Ao and Zhu Li sat in Genly's office in the Earth Palace, now joined by Korra, Varrick, Mako, Bolin, Opal and the President himself. Almost everyone was seated on one of the plush couches in the office, but Varrick was busy setting up his projector and screen and Ao was curled up on the rug by Haku's feet. "Thank you for meeting with me, everyone," said Asami to the group. As soon as she and Haku had returned to the upper ring, she'd sent messengers to all of their comrades that an emergency meeting was needed.

"Of course," said Genly from behind his desk. "What's going on?"

"I believe that the time has come for us to announce the Balance Team to the city, and I think you must issue an order granting them permission to take people in to custody as soon as possible."

She and Haku relayed what had happened that afternoon, from their discovery that people were using the tunnel to the police barricade and the encounter with Saigon. "Ao believes that whatever is down there is dangerous," said Haku. "And I am inclined to believe him."

"As am I," said Genly. "I will issue the order first thing in the morning. But why have we set up this screen?"

"I'd like Haku to see what happened to this spirit we saw a couple of weeks ago," Asami told him. "Roll the tape, Varrick."

Varrick played the short clip of the encounter. The camera had managed to capture the way the spirit had looked, as if someone had filled it with smoke. Then it caught how the spirit had released the smoke, vanishing without a trace. After the clip was over, the room was silent except for the clicking of the finished tape as the projector continued to run.

After Varrick had shut the machine off, Bolin said: "Oooooo-kay..."

"Exactly," said Asami. "And this is just one of the bizarre things we've seen here in Ba Sing Se. The spirits are scarce here, even though there are just as many vines as there were in Republic City. And the vines themselves are malicious towards humans. They destroy important buildings. They shut the Avatar out. They are encroaching upon the Great Wall itself. Something is wrong here, and I've brought everyone together to see if anyone has idea what in the world that could be."

No one jumped up to offer any theories. "The problem is," said Mako, "none of us really has all that much experience in this. Sure, you guys rebuilt Republic City, but before then we'd never had such extreme integration with the spirits before. Any time we face a problem, it's a brand new problem for all concerned."

"And since I can't consult my past lives, I can't offer any more information than what you guys are working with. This really is all new," said Korra, frowning.

"Wait," said Haku, getting up and pacing back and forth across the room. "I think I might be getting an idea."

There was a long pause as everyone stared at him. Silent minutes slipped by. Finally, Bolin said: "Haku? You still with us?"

Haku looked up as though he had just remembered that there were other people in the room. "Oh, I'm sorry. Mako, I don't think this _is_ a new problem. I can remember reading something in one of the books Jinora brought back from the spirit world, but I can't quite think what it is. Genly, do you have a telephone I can use?"

"I do," said Genly. "You can use the one in the outer office. My aide has already gone home for the day."

"Not to be a bummer, but I'm pretty sure Jinora won't be in right now," said Opal, who was one of Jinora's closest friends. "She's been doing the overnight spirit world shifts for the BTF."

"That's right," muttered Haku. "I forgot." As the head of the BTF, he was responsible for the creation of its schedules. Members of the BTF worked on rotation for the various times and locations where patrols were needed. It was very late at night, so right now Jinora was probably in the spirit world, patrolling the area around Raiko Tower in case of any unusual spirit activity.

"We could still reach her, if it's an emergency," said Bolin. "Thanks to Raiko Tower, we can use radio to communicate in the spirit world now."

"No," said Haku in a tone that clearly indicated he wished he had said yes. "I suppose it'll wait until morning."

Korra stood up, and everyone looked at her. "It's just as well, because I have another idea anyway. I need to talk to the Dai Li. Asami, would you care to join me?"

"Of course. We'll be right back," said Asami, and the two of them left the room. "I'm guessing you're thinking the same thing I was thinking. We can send the Dai Li to sneak down the tunnel and check out what's going on."

"For once, the great idea occurred to me, too," replied Korra with a grin. She took Asami's hand as they walked through the dark Earth Palace. It looked eerie all lit up by torches, but surprisingly there were still plenty of people about. _Government works at all hours_ , thought Asami.

They walked all the way to the front of the Earth Palace, stopping just outside the massive doors. There, Korra looked up at the stone overhang of the roof, and she nodded at the shadows. One by one, her six most trusted Balance Team members dropped down in front of them. "I have a job for you," said Korra.

"We accept," replied Chen.

"You haven't even heard what it is," laughed Korra.

"We still accept, Avatar."

"Alright then. Here's what I want you to do." In a quiet voice that didn't carry any farther than their little group, Korra explained about the tunnel beneath the water treatment plant. "I need you guys to sneak in and find out what they're smuggling down there. We don't even know if they're bringing something in or taking something out. Just try to find out whatever you can."

"There's something else," added Asami. "Your fellow Dai Li members are probably going to be there as well."

It was difficult to tell how this news made these six men feel. They looked at one another, communicating without words. But the only thing Chen said was: "You must be Asami Sato. I don't believe we've ever been properly introduced. I am Chen." And he offered Asami his hand.

"Oh my goodness," said Korra, slapping her own forehead. "I'm so rude. Guys, this is my wife Asami. Asami, this is Chen, Sun, Jun, Zhang, Wei, and Tao." She pointed to each person as she introduced them. Asami shook each of their hands, smiling pleasantly.

"It's lovely to meet you all. I hope Korra hasn't been too rough on you during training."

"No way," said Zhang, irritation in his voice. "She won't even use the Avatar state against us."

"It's incredibly unlikely that you guys will ever need to face anything as dangerous as the Avatar in the Avatar state," shot back Korra, equally as snippy.

Shaking his head, Tao said, "Even so, wouldn't it be good for us to know what it's like to get in a _real_ fight? How are we supposed to protect your wife and this city if we aren't prepared for the worst?"

"Protect your wife?" asked Asami, glaring pointedly at Korra. "You told them to protect me?"

Shuffling nervously, Korra admitted, "Maybe once or twice."

"A day," mumbled Sun, and the others snickered.

The Dai Li couldn't possibly know of the tension between Korra and Asami in regards to this subject. They only knew that Korra had told them that in the event of any trouble, protecting Asami Sato needed to be a priority for them. Asami looked back and forth between Korra and the Dai Li, and Korra shuffled nervously as she waited for the inevitable angry scolding from her wife.

But it never came. Instead, Asami put her hand on Korra's shoulder and gave her a peck on the cheek. "You're sweet," she said with a smile, her green eyes sparkling. When their eyes met, Korra knew that she was forgiven.

Korra grinned like she had just won the lottery, absolutely twitterpated and lovesick. The Dai Li sniggered again, and it brought her back to the task at hand. "Okay, now you've all been introduced. Rudeness abated," she said, forcing herself to stop smiling but having a harder time banishing her blush. "But now we have to get back to business, because this is serious. You should expect to see police everywhere, and people using the tunnel. Please try not to be seen or caught. I don't want to lose a single one of you."

They understood her unspoken sentiment. A month of close work with each other had grown a comradery that could perhaps best be described as friendship. Although technically the Dai Li agents were her students, and she their teacher, they had laughed together and learned to trust each other implicitly. The fear she had once felt about using the Dai Li for her Balance Team were completely dissolved. There was no question of the loyalty of these men. Korra would miss any one of them if they were lost.

"Do not worry, Avatar," said Chen. "Before we became your Balance Team, we were masters of stealth and espionage. We will find out what is happening in that tunnel, and we will return with the information you seek."

The six men bowed low, and then disappeared in to the shadows.

Korra turned to Asami. "And now there's something else I have to do. I need to meditate. I can't communicate with my past lives, but Raava may be able to offer me a memory that can serve as a clue."

"But Korra, last time Raava gave you a memory you didn't have to meditate at all," Asami reminded her, referring to the vision she'd had of Kyoshi several weeks before. "Don't you think the fact that she hasn't offered you any memories yet means she doesn't know what to make of things either?" Asami didn't relish the job of being the one to break bad news to Korra, but it was part of their partnership. Sometimes they both had to say things they wished they didn't have to say.

"That's true," admitted Korra. "But I can't accept the idea that Raava has nothing to say about this. Maybe if I meditate, we can both clear our heads and think of something we both missed before."

"Fair enough." Asami glanced at her watch. It was nearly midnight. "Can it wait until morning? I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired."

Korra debated this internally. She couldn't shake a nagging feeling of urgency, but at the same time she wanted nothing more than to curl up in her nice warm bed with the love of her life. She asked herself: _What can I really solve tonight that won't wait until morning?_ The Dai Li would need time to infiltrate the tunnel, and that could take hours. Plus, the rest of the Balance Team would be meeting in the morning for their usual lessons. With them around, she'd have a little help once they formed a plan of action. "I guess it can wait," said Korra, feeling the same kind of guilt she used to feel when she would intentionally skip out on a lesson from the White Lotus when she was younger. "Let's go tell the others we can continue this in the morning."

When they turned to go back to Genly's office, they noticed that Varrick was standing nearby with the camera. "You were recording that?" asked Asami, annoyed.

"Of course!" said Varrick, balancing the camera on his shoulder as he gesticulated wildly with his free hand. "You think the public won't be interested in your relationship with the _Avatar?_ "

"Yeah, I know they'd be interested in that, but that was supposed to be private."

"Look, Asami, you gave us your permission to film you. You can't renege on your promise now," said Varrick. "But I'll tell you what: When we finish the mover, we'll let you see it first so we can get rid of anything you think is too private."

Asami was surprised at how reasonable she found this compromise. The idea of the mover had become much easier for Asami to accept since allowing Varrick and Zhu Li to film her. _I guess it really is possible to get used to anything_ , she thought. "Okay. Just make sure you keep that promise, Varrick."

"I never make promises I don't intend to keep," replied Varrick arrogantly.

In Genly's office, Korra announced: "Asami and I are going home. We'll let everyone know if we make any further decisions about this."

"I am so glad you said that," said Bolin, yawning hugely. "I'm beat! See you guys tomorrow." He draped his arm around Opal casually and the two of them left.

"I will try to call Jinora first thing in the morning," said Haku. "Good night."

"Night," replied Korra. She took Asami's hand again and the two of them headed out of the Palace once more.

Later, as she and Asami were curled up together, Korra was quite convinced she'd been right to wait until morning to meditate. Spending time with Asami worked almost as well as meditation for clearing her head, and judging by the golden warmth that was coursing through her body as she drifted off to sleep, Raava probably felt the same way.


	17. Roots of the Dai Li

Chapter 17: Roots of the Dai Li

Chen and his five companions bounced rooftop to rooftop, as silent as the moon sliding across the night sky. Although officially their days as a covert team of assassins had ended, the Dai Li would always pride itself on their ability to sneak around undiscovered. The ability to move without making a sound, without even casting a shadow, was one that took long, hard years of practice to perfect. As they ran atop one of the disabled trolley tracks to descend from the upper to the middle ring, Chen remembered the day when he'd been selected and drafted in to the Dai Li.

It had started like a normal day for the most part, although in retrospect there had been several key differences that the six-year-old Chen had failed to notice. In his home state of Gaoling, Chen had awoken that morning and prepared for school just as he always did. While leaving the house his mother had stopped him, giving him a firm hug that had went just a little longer than they usually did. His father had stood nearby, watching as he put on his shoes and slung his bag over his shoulder. "Have a nice day, son," his father had said, watching with an unblinking stare. They didn't usually bid him such a fond farewell, but Chen had thought nothing of it. There was no way Chen could have known that this would be the last time he would ever see his parents.

His childhood had been a happy one. Most of his very best friends lived on the same street that he did, and they had spent countless hours playing rock ball in the lane. Chen was always picked first when teams were chosen. All his friends knew that he was the best earthbender among them.

When he arrived at school, the teacher set them to work with lines. As the teacher walked among the children passing out sheets of paper, she skipped Chen's desk, instead saying: "The headmaster would like to see you, Chen. Go now, please."

Everyone had stared as he left the room. Chen's legs were like jelly as he walked through the school, certain he was about to get in huge trouble but unable to think of what he had done wrong.

In the office his headmaster had told him to sit, and then he'd left Chen alone in the room. As he walked past Chen he'd grasped his shoulder so firmly it was almost painful. It wasn't until years later that Chen realized the headmaster had been trying to apologize for what was about to happen to him.

Two men in conical hats and kimonos had entered the room and explained that he was going to train with the Dai Li. Chen had at first been excited, until they explained he would no longer live in Gaoling; he was going to be taken to Ba Sing Se, and he would never leave that city again for the rest of his life. He was no longer a part of the family he'd always known. Instead, he would be part of the Dai Li brotherhood. His fellow agents would be his family from now on.

He'd screamed, he'd cried, he'd kicked, he'd hollered, he'd tried to fight the two grown, fully trained Dai Li agents. He'd even attempted to attazck with his earthbending. But he'd been quickly subdued, and then one of the men had put a funny-smelling rag over his face, and then everything had gone black.

Over the next couple of years Chen had trained under Lake Laogi with his Dai Li fellows. It was hard and lonely and scary, but it was also immediately evident that Chen was superior to all of the recruits in his own age group, and most of the older recruits as well.

He'd risen through the ranks quickly. When he'd turned sixteen, they'd given him the silver collar, the honored and respected mark of a squadron leader. It was roughly around that time that he'd begun to forget his own name. He was no longer Chen, the boy from Gaoling. The only part of his identity that mattered was his allegiance to the Dai Li.

But still, there were nights when he looked up at the stars and wondered if his parents were still alive. A part of him would always remember the little boy he'd once been. It wasn't a thought he indulged in frequently, and he never spoke to anyone about it.

For nearly twenty years he'd done jobs for the royal family, jobs he wasn't proud of. He'd been part of the team that attempted to turn the airbenders in to the Queen's army, although he'd found the work distasteful—and not just because of its moral implications. He had resented the airbenders who the Queen obviously valued so greatly. It was offensive for Chen to think that the Queen wanted the airbenders for her army, when she already _had_ the best army in the entire world: the Dai Li.

Then the Queen was murdered, and the Earth Kingdom was chaos. The Dai Li wasn't sure who to be loyal to any more. Should they align themselves with Kuvira? Or offer their services to Wu? Traditionally the Dai Li were loyal to the most powerful force in the city, which had always been the royal family, aside from a brief period of time at the end of the 100 Year War when they'd instead aligned themselves with the unbeatable Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. After Avatar Aang ended the war the monarchy was once again secured and the Dai Li re-entered the service of the royal family. But then Zaheer and Kuvira came along and threw their entire way of life in to chaos.

The Dai Li chose to obey itself, because _they_ were the most powerful force in the city. Corruption became more rampant than it had ever been before. And Chen hated it with all his heart. Soon after the fall of Kuvira, the monarchy was dissolved. The Earth Republic elected Genly Ai, and the Dai Li offered him their services. It was a boring time, but Chen was glad to have a master again. Agents began to go missing, and Chen assumed it was because they'd decided to break their vows of brotherhood in search of a more exciting life.

And then, the Avatar returned.

 _The Avatar_ , thought Chen, picturing Korra in her blue water tribe outfit, her hair windswept and messy, her mischievous grin in place. To say she was different than he'd expected was an understatement. For generations the Dai Li had passed down stories of Avatar Kyoshi, their truest master. They said Kyoshi was stern but fair, strong but wise enough to know when to use that strength, brave but not foolish. In all his years in the service of the Dai Li, there had never been tales of _laughter_ from Avatar Kyoshi.

But Avatar Korra laughed. She teased, joked, and smiled. She was warm, loving, and selfless. She was a patient teacher, and a caring mentor. And she was a fearless leader, taking charge and demanding obedience without being tyrannical about it. In just one month she'd undone all the work the Dai Li had done to erase Chen's identity. He was himself again, a man named Chen.

If Chen had not been a Dai Li agent and Korra had not been the Avatar, he felt sure he would have followed Korra anyway. She was absolutely their truest master.

And they were her army.

They reached the area where the water treatment plant stood, easily recognizable thanks to the huge, overgrown spirit vines preventing entrance to most streets. They perched on a building two blocks away, looking down the street at the police barricade about which they'd been warned. Also easily spotted were two officers on each rooftop adjacent to the water plant. Chen motioned with his right hand for three of the six to move to the other side of the street, and he and two others remained on their current side. Simultaneously, the two groups on the two sides of the street ambushed the officers on the rooftops. One agent on each side wrapped stones around their feet and fists before jumping high above the officers, pinning them down and using the stone to trap their arms and legs. Then the other two agents threw canvas sacks over their heads and used pressure points to knock them out silently.

Now they were directly above the police barricade, so close they could hear their conversation. "…is kind of cute," one of the men was saying.

"No way. Too much muscle," said another. "The Sato chick is way hotter."

"Why choose?" said a third. "I'd like to have them both at the same time."

The three men laughed raucously. "You got that right," said the first officer. "I have a good enough time just picturing it. Living it? I'd probably have a heart attack!"

"It wouldn't last very long, I can tell you that much," another officer added. "It'd have to be more than once to really enjoy it, am I right?" More laughter followed this comment.

On the rooftop, Chen's stomach churned with disgust and anger. It wasn't hard for him to guess what they were talking about.

As much as he hated hearing these men disrespecting his master and her wife, he knew he couldn't pick a fight with them. They had specific instructions, and they would follow them to the letter.

The Dai Li agents again coated their hands and feet with stones. Then they turned to the vines, using the stones as pickaxes as they scaled the plants like spiders. It took them a long time. The spirit vines were tough and resisted the stabbing of their stones. Sometimes no place could be found where it was possible to perforate the vines at all, so they had to double back to try a new path. In many places the only way to go was up, so they had to take long detours on their way towards the back of the power plant.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon when the Dai Li finally reached the back of the plant with their feet on the ground. Now behind the large building, they were no longer in direct line-of-sight of the police blockade. This was the difficult part. Korra had explained that the vines here were unpassable. They had opened once for Asami, but they had no idea how or why it had happened. Slowly and carefully, they searched for an opening but found none.

From his position in front of one of the blocked-up streets, Wei heard motion behind his entrance and stamped once on the ground, signaling to the others that someone was coming. The agents leapt like frogs and re-attached themselves to the vines, slowly moving towards Wei to group up just above a point in the vines which was now parting like curtains on a stage. A lone police officer appeared, heading towards the blockade. Without stopping to think, Chen let himself drop down on top of the officer and made quick work of knocking her out. He tied her hands and feet, and then looked up at the vines.

The entrance had stayed open.

Using stones from the ground, they tacked the unconscious police officer to the vines as if she was a painting on a wall. Then they slipped through the newly-revealed entrance, looking around warily for anyone else that might be here. But they saw no one, and soon they were headed down the tunnel, towards the massive chamber where they'd been told to look for wooden crates.

They used the same technique to scale the walls of the chamber that they'd used to climb the vines. Quietly, they climbed all the way to the ceiling and hung there, taking a good look around.

It wasn't difficult to find the crates of which Asami Sato had spoken. Stacked against the opposite wall was at least fifty of them, and there were several other piles elsewhere in the chamber. They could also see people coming and going from the arm of the tunnel that must lead out under the wall of the city and in to the country beyond. The ones coming in were carrying wooden crates, and the ones going out were empty-handed. And, Chen was dismayed to note, they were all former members of the Dai Li.

Judging by their bulging arm muscles, sweaty hair, and slow, clomping progress, the crates were very heavy. Chen looked at Wei and motioned for him to follow along, and the two of them made their way towards a pile of crates that were sitting partially in shadow. Together, they metalbent the nails out of the lid of one of the boxes and took it off.

Inside were sitting strange things that Chen had never seen before, packed in hay. They looked like two metal pipes fused together end-to-end at an angle. He picked one up and was surprised to feel how heavy it was. Wei picked one up as well, inspecting it carefully, clearly also baffled. Also sitting in the box were several smaller boxes, each of which appeared to contain several more pieces of metal, each one only a fraction of the size of the other metal things. Wei shrugged and shoved one of the heavy metal objects in to his waistband and put the lid back on the crate. Their mission was accomplished; it was time to leave.

Just as they began to climb again, there was a loud shout. They had been spotted.

Suddenly the six members of the Balance Team were being attacked mercilessly by their former brothers. "Stay your hand!" cried Chen, his voice booming in the huge chamber. "Stay your hand, brothers!"

But the attacks continued. The chamber filled with noise and chaos as the former agents advanced on the six Team members. They were outnumbered 3 to 1. Chen knew there was no way they could win.

With a mighty heave, he raised a thick rock wall between himself and the advancing enemy. He put both hands on it and braced it with his entire body. To his companions, he yelled: " _GO!_ Get the information to the Avatar! Go now, I will hold them off!"

"I will stay with you," protested Wei.

"No! We cannot lose two! You _must_ go, all of you! _Now!_ "

He couldn't hold the wall much longer. His companions nodded grimly, then quickly scaled the wall and were gone. Chen was all alone.

The last of his strength gave out. The rock wall crumbled, and then there was only darkness.


	18. Thunder Builds

Chapter 18: Thunder Builds

Korra had not slept well. She'd drifted off for a while at first, but her meager moments of sleep were haunted by nightmares about what had happened to Asami at the Tree of Time. It had been a long time since the memories had felt so vivid for Korra. In her dream, she relived the moment when Asami had clapped her hand over the gas tank of Ron Regent's tree cutting machine, only in her nightmares she became paralyzed and could not save Asami. Every time she had the dream she awoke gasping, tears running down her face, still seeing Asami's limp body in her mind's eye. She wrapped her arms around Asami and buried her face in her hair, trying to calm her racing heart.

And her waking moments became haunted too as she remembered that she had just sent her friends on a dangerous mission, and that she would be unable to protect them. She wondered how Chen and the others were faring. She lay on her back in the darkness, listening to Asami breathing and straining her ears for any sound that could be the Balance Team arriving on the rooftop. Gradually the sun crested the bottom of the windowsill and sent warm beams across the bed. Korra got up quietly and carefully, trying not to wake her sleeping lover.

She went to the kitchen and boiled water to make tea, and then she took her steaming cup out to the balcony, looking out at the waking city below. It hadn't been more than five minutes before Asami came out to the balcony, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and kissing her forehead. "I don't like it when I wake up and you're not in bed with me," she said quietly.

"Sorry," replied Korra. "I just thought I'd let you sleep a while longer. You looked too cute laying there."

"I can look cute standing out here with you, too."

"Good point," admitted Korra. Asami did look cute with her slippers, bathrobe and sleep-tousled hair.

They stood in silence for a while, watching the sun move higher in to the sky. Again Korra's mind drifted to the Balance Team. It had been almost six hours since she'd sent them to the water plant. Shouldn't they be back by now?

"I'm sure they're fine," said Asami, reaching out to smooth the worry lines off Korra's forehead. "You've trained them really well."

"I didn't train them for this. I asked them to do the one thing they didn't want to do any more. If they'd wanted to be sneaky spies, they wouldn't have joined up with me."

"Come on now, Korra. You know that isn't true. They joined up with you because it's their duty. And what they're doing right now at the water plant is their duty, too."

"Their duty is to keep this city safe, not sneak around and spy on gangs. And _my_ duty is to keep _them_ safe."

"Which you do," argued Asami. "You're giving them the tools they need to be able to help keep the city safe."

For a long time, Korra didn't say anything. Then she glanced at Asami and said: "I know you don't want to talk about this, but I'm training the Dai Li to keep _you_ safe."

"What do you mean?"

Trying to keep her tone calm, Korra said in a wavering voice: "I've been having the nightmare again."

Asami knew which nightmare she meant.

"It's true what the Team said to you," continued Korra. "I do tell them to protect you."

"Korra…" said Asami warningly. She didn't want a repeat of the conversation they'd had that night.

"I'm not going to ask you to stop doing what you're doing for Ba Sing Se. But Asami, we both know something strange is going on in this city. And until we figure out what that is, I can't deal with the thought of you being in the lower ring without some form of protection. If something happens down there, I know what I'm going to prioritize."

Asami gave a sad smile and shook her head. "You say that now, but I know it isn't true."

"Yes, it is."

"It's not." Asami gently turned Korra's face towards hers, demanding her attention. "I know you, Korra. You are the Avatar, and nothing will change that. If something happens in the lower ring, you're going to protect the entire city, not just me. And you know what? That's what I _want_ you to do. If it's a choice between me and the greater good, I want you to pick the greater good. Because even if you saved me but lost a lot of others, that's something you would never recover from. You would regret it for the rest of your life, for _all_ of your lives, and it would tear you up inside. So I'm telling you right now, if that happens… I want you to make the right choice. No matter how hard it is, you have to make the right choice."

Knowing Asami was right, Korra leaned her forehead against Asami's, closing her eyes. "The next Avatar is going to be so screwed without you," she muttered. "I hate the thought of going through other lifetimes on my own."

"Who knows? Maybe I'll get to live another life, too."

"If you do, look me up, okay?"

"You bet." Asami closed the distance between them, kissing her soundly. "I love you, Korra."

"I love you, too." They indulged in another long, lazy kiss. "Are you going to work today?" whispered Korra, wondering how difficult it would be to convince Asami to abandon her responsibilities for the day.

"I have to," replied Asami. "I really don't want to, but I have to meet with some engineers about the water plant."

"But the police are blocking off the plant," said Korra, gradually slipping her fingers farther and farther up the back of Asami's shirt. "You can't work on the plant if you can't get to it."

"I'm not meeting them at the plant. I'm meeting them near Lake Laogai."

This made Korra forget all thoughts of sex. "What?" she said, leaning back so she could look up at Asami's face. "Why?"

"Because that's where Ba Sing Se gets most of its water," said Asami. "I need to prepare for the possibility that we may never get the plant in to working order again. Koti and I are going to start at the lake and move outwards to look for an alternative location for a water treatment facility. Since neither of us knows anything about water treatment, we hired some engineers who can tell us what kind of place we should be looking for."

"I see," said Korra, looking crestfallen. "Well, I guess I should to go the Earth Palace and see if Haku got ahold of Jinora anyway."

They went inside to prepare for the day ahead. Korra walked Asami to the tram station where Varrick and Zhu Li were already waiting, both of them carrying cameras. Varrick was already pointing his at Korra and Asami, but Zhu Li's was slung over her shoulder with a canvass strap. "Both of you today?" asked Asami, raising an eyebrow.

"We thought that after that meeting last night we should double up so we don't miss anything important," explained Zhu Li. "Don't worry, we'll stay out of your hair."

"I know." Turning to Korra, Asami said: "I'll see you tonight. Send for me if you need me."

"I will. Asami, please be careful today. Until the Balance Team gets back we have no idea what we're dealing with. Don't even think about taking that glove off."

Asami nodded and kissed her wife goodbye. Then she climbed on to the train, Varrick and Zhu Li following.

Turning back to the Palace, Korra tried to shake the feeling that she'd just made a huge mistake by letting Asami go. Then again, Asami never let Korra dictate the terms of her comings-and-goings. If Korra had tried to get Asami to stay just because she had a bad feeling about it, it would have resulted in another fight like the one'd they'd had on the night of the housewarming party. But it felt dishonest to try to hide how worried she was from Asami. Though she'd resolved to stop trying to keep Asami from doing her work in the lower ring, she would never stop doing as much as she possibly could to keep Asami safe.

At the Palace she asked the receptionist where she might be able to find Haku, and she was directed towards a small office not far from where Korra had lived during the constitutional convention. She was just about to knock when Haku's voice floated out of the room: "You may enter, Korra."

She pushed the door open and smiled at Haku. "Those ears sure do come in handy," she quipped.

"Indeed," he laughed. Haku was sitting behind a large desk, dozens of sheets of paper spread out all around him. In front of him sat a telephone. "You're just in time. I called Jinora a while ago and had her go fetch the book I need from Air Temple Island. She'd taken it home to study on her days off. Any minute now she should be calling me back."

As they waited, they attached the cone from a nearby phonograph on the receiver. This would amplify the sound and make it possible for both of them to hear what the person on the other end of the line was saying. They had just finished this task when the phone rang, and Haku answered it. "Thank you for getting back to me. Korra is listening in too."

"Hi Korra," said Jinora, her voice sounding tinny from the combination of the phone line and the phonograph cone. "I've got the lion turtle book here in front of me." The book in question was the same one from which they had learned the spirit-summoning ability. "What chapter do you need?"

"There should be one titled 'The Earth.' That's the one with the pertinent information."

There was a rustling from the other end of the line, the sound of Jinora carefully turning the pages of the ancient book. "Yes, here it is," she said.

"Excellent. Will you begin reading that chapter for us?" Haku sat up attentively, his pen poised over a sheet of paper in preparation for note-taking.

"Sure. Just to warn you, some of the wording is a little strange, but I translated it as best as I could. The first section is called 'The City.'" She cleared her throat and began to read:

 _The Earth City was built upon the back of the lion turtle Tu. Tu was sturdy, patient, and stable. Only humans of these qualities were given the gift of Earth. The element allowed prosperity and strength among the Citizens_.

"Hold on," interrupted Korra. "I thought the lion turtles only granted elements to people who were outside the cities."

"That was only the practice of the lion turtle of the fire element, Huo. The other lion turtles allowed elemental bending within the cities," explained Haku.

"Why didn't Huo allow it?"

"Let Jinora continue, and I believe you will have your answer."

"Okay. Sorry, Jinora. Go ahead."

"No problem," said Jinora. She continued:

 _Nomadic like his brothers, Tu traveled the worlds and saw many things. His wisdom was absolute. He did not care for fighting. He did not wish to become involved in the conflicts of the worlds. So, too, did his Citizens practice peace and stability._

 _Tu came across his brother Huo. Their Citizens did trade. All was amicable. But Huo was corrupted. He had stopped his nomadic ways and remained still. But Tu moved on, as that was the path to wisdom._

 _Again, after the passing of three human lifetimes, Tu came to the place where Huo was immobile. The dirt and rocks around him had grown, encasing Huo. Trapping him. Huo's shell was going to earth. Their Citizens fought. The burning element was destructive to the Earth City._

 _Tu did not become angry, for he was wise. Instead, he freed Huo and took his place upon the earth. Tu vowed to remain at the place where his brother became corrupted. There he remained, and there he became corrupted, and there he died. As his body became earth, his shell became stone. The stones protected the Earth City, for Tu had made it so. The corruption would not escape the shell of Tu. And the corruption would remain within the shell of Tu. But Tu was stable, and the Spirit of Corruption was contained._

Korra waited for more, but it seemed Jinora had finished. She looked at Haku, who was scribbling furiously. "The Earth City is Ba Sing Se, isn't it," she said.

"I believe so," replied Haku.

"And the shell is the wall."

"Yes. Until Jinora discovered this book we'd only known the history of Ba Sing Se from five thousand years back, but this story describes the city as it might have been in the era that pre-dates the Avatar. We've always known that five thousand years ago, Ba Sing Se was built below ground. But then it became too populated and the wall was risen from the ground. Many scholars believe that the walls of Ba Sing Se have a special quality which makes them difficult to penetrate. This book suggests that it may be due to the lion turtle Tu, who turned his shell in to stone to protect the city."

"But what about Huo?" asked Korra. "Why didn't he do the same thing? Why did Tu have to take his place?"

"Because of the nature of the lion turtle Tu. He granted the gift of Earth, a stable, solid and slow element. Huo granted Fire, which is destruction, power, and life. That is why Huo did not allow his element within the city; he knew that the people in his city were being influenced by whatever he was trying to contain. But Tu was capable of a kind of defensive longevity that Huo could never achieve. His people, people who were sturdy and unyielding, would be more difficult for an outside power to influence." Haku paused, looking at his notes. "In short, Huo knew that there was something there that needed to be contained, and Tu knew that he was the best lion turtle to contain it. So Tu made them switch places."

"When the people of Huo's city attacked the people of Tu's, Tu didn't get mad," said Jinora, who had been listening in on the conversation. "He saw the anger of the firebenders and understood where it was coming from. He must have been very wise."

"So what's the Spirit of Corruption?" inquired Korra.

"I believe that the Spirit of Corruption may be the key to everything we are seeing here in Ba Sing Se. Mako thinks the problems were are seeing here are new, but I believe they may in fact be old; older, even, than the Avatar itself." He got up off his desk chair and paced back and forth, Ao watching him nervously from the carpet. "For thousands of years Ba Sing Se has been known as a place where class structure is ultimate, where the rich step on the poor to get to the upper ring. The city has always been separate and withdrawn from the rest of the world's affairs. Power was concentrated in one absolute spot, and it stayed in that spot for thousands of years.

"Until Harmonic Convergence came along, and the spirits returned to this world," Haku continued. "It could be that the sudden increase of spiritual activity has provided this so-called 'Spirit of Corruption' with a surge of spiritual power and now it is enforcing its will upon this city, just as it once enforced its will upon Huo."

Korra was dismayed to hear this. If Haku was right, it meant that everything bad that happened in Ba Sing Se was _her_ fault. She groaned and put her head in her hands. "Why did I leave those portals open? I'm such an idiot! I didn't even stop to think about the consequences, I just went ahead and made this huge decision and now the city is being destroyed thanks to me." She repeatedly slapped her own forehead. "That's it. Next solstice, I'm closing those portals. Nothing good has come of them."

" _Nothing good has come of them?_ " repeated Jinora incredulously. "You gave the spirits back their homes! You made it possible for humans and spirits to be friends and teammates. Korra, you _brought back the airbenders!_ "

"But at what cost?" said Korra. "Ba Sing Se is in deep doo-doo, in case you hadn't heard."

"It's going to be okay, Korra," said Jinora. "You've gotten through worse things than this. Vaatu was a ten-thousand-year-old enemy too, and you totally kicked his butt."

Seeing that Korra still looked dismayed, Haku said: "Jinora, see if you can find any more information about this Spirit of Corruption, will you?"

"I'm already on it," she replied, and they could hear the rustling of pages over the phone.

But Haku had noticed that Ao had moved off the carpet and was now sitting directly in front of Korra. The fox and the Avatar stared at one another. "You know something about the Spirit of Corruption," Korra said. It wasn't a question. She was completely certain that Ao was trying to tell her that he could help. "If I meditate in to the spirit world, can you show me?"

Ao bowed his head slightly, a clear affirmative.

Korra stood up and looked at Haku. "I need somewhere private to do this. I'm going to go find an empty office." She went to open the door and was surprised to find Wei standing right outside it, holding an item she recognized immediately.

It was a pistol just like the one she'd seen Ron Regent shoot Lin Beifong with in the spirit world almost a year ago. It had put Lin completely out of commission in less than a second, and with no effort at all on Regent's part. Seeing the metallic weapon made her stomach drop down to her shoes. This weapon was far more dangerous than any kind of elemental bending. "Oh, no," she said. "Oh, no no no no."

"I take it you know what this is?" said Wei. "This is what we found in the crates. There are hundreds of them, perhaps thousands." He swallowed and straightened his shoulders. "Chen is gone, either captured or killed. We were spotted. He sacrificed himself to save us."

 _All my fault_ , thought Korra. _This is all my fault_.

Pounding footsteps made Korra look down the hall. Mako was running towards them at top speed. He skidded to a stop in front of Korra and panted: "Emergency. There's major rioting in the lower ring. Genly is going to order a total quarantine."

"No!" shouted Korra. "He can't! Asami is still down there!" She didn't wait for him to answer before sprinting off in the direction of Genly's office. People turned to stare at her as she passed, but she barely even noticed. The only thing she could focus on was getting Asami home safely, and to do that she had to make sure the lower ring was kept open.

The outer office was bustling with activity, packed with dozens of aides and messengers who were coming and going every couple of seconds. Korra ignored them all and marched towards the door to the inner office. Before she got there, an aide threw himself between her and the door. "Miss, you can't go in there. The President is very busy."

"Get out of my way," said Korra threateningly.

"She's the Avatar. Let her pass," said Mako from behind her. Korra hadn't even realized he'd been following her.

Putting her hand on the aide's shoulder, Korra pushed him roughly out of her way. Then she threw open the office door and strode right up to Genly's desk. "Asami is in the lower ring. Let me get her out before you order the quarantine."

Genly didn't look up as he replied to her, instead continuing to focus on the papers spread out over his desk, his quill scratching swiftly as he wrote. "I'm sorry, Korra, but I cannot wait. I've already given the order."

Korra slammed both hands down on his desk, causing everyone in the room except Genly to jump in surprise. "Damn it, Genly! This is _Asami_ we're talking about! How could you do this to her? How could you do this to _me?_ "

Genly got to his feet and met Korra's eyes. "This is _not_ Asami we're talking about. This is my city. Wall guards between the lower and middle rings are reporting that rioters are attempting to get to the top two rings. I'm getting reports of injuries caused by weapons that no one has any knowledge of and no one can defend themselves against. The fighting broke out fifteen minutes ago and I already have a dozen confirmed casualties."

The room was deadly quiet as Genly and Korra stared at one another. The air was thick with tension. Everyone waited, but Korra didn't seem to have anything else to say.

"What would you have me do, Avatar?" said Genly. "Would you have me leave my city unguarded for another hour so you can go down and save one person? I'm sorry, but it's done. No one leaves the lower ring until this fighting is resolved. My wall guards have orders to stop anyone who tries to get out, by any means necessary. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a crisis to fix."

Activity resumed in the office, and Korra turned to face Mako, who immediately reached out and drew her in to a tight hug. "She'll be fine," he said quietly in to her ear. "She can take care of herself."

Taking comfort in the hug, Korra took several deep breaths, thoughts racing through her mind. She could remember a time when she wouldn't have been nearly as worried about Asami as she was right now. Before that day in the spirit world where Asami had nearly died to save the Tree of Time she'd never had any reservations about Asami fighting at her side. But the stakes were too high now. Asami was too important to her to lose. She loved Asami more than anything in the world.

But as she had that thought, she realized that she had been forgetting something in the past couple of weeks. She'd forgotten the thing she loved most about Asami: Asami Sato really _could_ take care of herself.

She was smart, strong, and clever. She could fight as well as any bender. She was brave and resourceful. Put simply, she was _awesome_. If there was anyone who could make it out of a situation like this, it would be Asami Sato.

And the flip side of that was that Asami loved Korra because she was the Avatar. She wanted Korra to do the right thing. She wanted Korra to uphold balance and save this city.

Pulling away from Mako, Korra steeled her resolved and turned back to Genly. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Apology accepted," replied Genly with a terse smile.

"I'll take the Balance Team down there. Will your guards let us pass?"

"I will send notice that you are coming, and they will stand aside for you." Genly stood and offered his hand, and Korra clasped it tightly. "Thank you for defending this city, Avatar Korra."

"Same to you, President Ai."

Suddenly there were several ear-splitting pops from the direction of the outer office, and a few seconds later the door to the inner office crashed open. " _Everyone down on the ground!_ " someone shouted.

Korra whirled around and found herself face-to-face with Chief Saigon and two other uniformed police officers. All three of them were holding pistols.


	19. Thunder Breaks - Fortitude

**Author's Notes:** Unless you haven't been paying attention, it should be pretty obvious that we're closing in on the end here. It's been a long time coming for this fic. I don't have much I wanted to say, except that I'm pretty proud of how these last few chapters turned out. Chapters 18, 19 and 20 are easily my favorites. I've planted a whole butt-load of seeds in this fic, and now I get to harvest them. When I first started thinking about doing this story I had a couple of key scenes visualized, and then I just wrote the story leading up to those scenes. Most of those scenes happen in these chapters.

I haven't been getting a whole of attention for this fic but I'm okay with it. I kinda just wanted to get it out there before the comics come along. Something something clear mind clear heart something something. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 19: Thunder Breaks / Fortitude

Asami met up with Koti at the tram station in the lower ring. "Good morning," she said cheerfully. Despite the grim conversation she'd had with Korra that morning and Korra's obvious misgivings about her safety in the lower ring, Asami was looking forward to the day ahead. Taking a trip out to the lake would be a nice change from her usual daily activities at the office or on Future Industries' myriad construction sites in the lower ring. Plus it was an opportunity to learn something new, which was something Asami always appreciated.

"Hey," grumbled Koti without making eye contact or smiling. "My satomobile is parked around the corner."

Behind her, she heard Varrick mutter to Zhu Li: "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

Though this was a violation of the rules about remaining silent during filming, Asami let it slide because she wholeheartedly agreed. Koti did seem grumpier than usual. Not that she was usually chipper or talkative, but she was at least pleasant. But today Koti just turned and led them to the car, scowling at the city around her. "Everything alright?" Asami asked her, eyeing her curiously.

"Everything's great," replied Koti shortly and then said nothing else for the entire car ride to the lake.

The sun sparkled on the surface of the murky lake. It was difficult for Asami to believe that this was the water that almost the entire city was drinking, but she supposed it explained why the water treatment plant was such a crucial part of the city's infrastructure. The lake sat at the top of a gentle slope, which caused water to flow downhill through underwater canals that led to the plant. As they pulled up Asami could see the two engineers waiting near the edge of the lake. They got out of the car and went over to greet them.

"Thank you for meeting with us today. I'm Asami Sato, and this is my construction foreman Koti. These two, Varrick and Zhu Li, will also be joining us. They're filming a mover so they're going to tag along. Don't worry about them; they won't get in our way."

They began to walk towards the more heavily-populated areas of the lower ring. "Nothing between here and the city will do for the plant itself," said one of the engineers. "But it is essential to ensure that the ground is pliant enough for us to put the pipes down." Every once in a while the engineers would stop and bend a hunk of dirt out of the ground, checking its properties. "So far so good."

The city was awake by the time the group made it to the more populous areas of the lower ring. Asami noted that they were actually pretty close to the school that Gabi attended, and Ren's office wasn't far either. There was a strange sound coming from the direction of the vine-infused water plant. "Do you guys hear that?" Asami asked.

"Hear what?" replied one of the engineers.

"It sounds like fireworks are going off, but that doesn't make any sense. Why would someone be setting off fireworks first thing in the morning?"

They drew closer to the plant, and the noise got louder. It was increasing in volume much faster than it should be; whatever was making the sound was coming right towards them. When they turned a corner, Asami saw that there was a huge group of people coming down the street. As the crowd moved, individual members broke off from the rest, heading down side streets. People were watching the approaching crowd curiously, more confused than afraid. But as Asami looked at the crowd, she noticed two things that made heart race with fear. The first was that she recognized two among the mass of humanity—they were the benders who had fought Korra with murderous intent on the morning of their housewarming party. And the second was that everyone in the group was armed with what Asami knew to be pistols, the weapon Cah-Bage Corp had invented. After Ron Regent had been arrested, his pistol had been confiscated and Asami had gotten to take a look at it. It was an invention that had no practical use except for violence. Future Industries had invented the electric glove, but next to a pistol the glove seemed fuzzy and cute.

"We need to get out of here right now," she said to the others. "We're in very big trouble here. Let's go!" She raised her voice and other people on the street looked at her. "Everyone follow me!"

Most people were not roused to action by her words. Some of them just shrugged and kept watching, and others actually started to walk _towards_ the incoming mob.

And then, there was another loud pop and an ear-splitting scream. A woman standing close to Asami collapsed to the ground, bleeding heavily from a wound in her side.

More pops followed, and there was panic in the streets. "Everyone follow me!" she yelled again, and this time people followed when she led them down a side alley, heading through rarely-used pedestrian paths that pointed them in the direction of the tram station. Extensive study of Ba Sing Se's blueprints as well as Genly's intelligence reports about the state of the city had made Asami intimately familiar with the city's streets. She knew them almost as well as she knew Republic City. Now she used that knowledge to lead the group of frightened civilians along narrow alleyways and side streets that only people who lived in the neighborhood would know about. The tense silence in the group was interrupted by the sounds of distant gunfire echoing around the buildings. Asami could tell that the group of pistol-carrying people they'd just escaped was not the only such mob roving about the area. From the sound of it, there was danger in every direction. She tried to keep her senses sharp, anticipating an attack at any moment.

As she led the group towards the tram station, she mused privately that if she made it out of this mess she would owe Korra an apology. And if she didn't, she hoped Korra would implicitly know that she was sorry anyway. Maybe she'd been too hard on Korra, who was only trying to keep her safe. After the ordeal at the Tree of Time, when she'd woken in the hospital bed beside Korra the morning after, they'd made a promise to each other to never take undue risks. Asami had broken that promise today. It was true that Asami felt a sense of duty towards her job here in Ba Sing Se, but that didn't mean that she couldn't have taken the day off in light of recent developments. Even knowing that Ao was worried about what he'd seen down the tunnel, and even knowing how much Korra hadn't wanted her to go, she'd climbed on that train and come down to the lower ring regardless.

And Korra, not wanting to upset Asami, had let her.

A wave of love for Korra crashed over her, accompanied by a healthy dose of regret. Never again would she let her own stubbornness guide her actions. Korra had been accommodating for Asami's sense of duty because she knew that Asami would have to do the same for her many times over the course of their lives. It was inevitable that Korra would face dangerous fights. She was the Avatar. But Asami was not. She was no one, really. In fact her most important role was to be the Avatar's wife, someone who could support her and care for her while she fulfilled her destiny. So there was really no choice in the matter: She had to get through this. She had to survive. She had to return to Korra.

She now had a following of a dozen people, not including Koti, Varrick, Zhu Li and the two engineers. Up ahead she heard more pistols discharging, but she forged on, trying to keep an eye on her surroundings.

But apparently it was not her lucky day. They emerged from an alley and ran right in to a group of six angry-looking people holding pistols.

Without stopping to think, she dropped down and took out two of them with a leg sweep and quickly hit them both with her electric glove. She knew that her only chance to defeat an enemy holding a pistol was to get inside his space so that he could not accurately fire it at her. For this reason, instead of coming back up after the leg sweep she rolled in a graceful somersault and kicked a third guy in his chest as hard as she possibly could. One of the attackers discharged his weapon, and Asami's ears rang painfully—she'd had no idea it was going to be so _loud_!

Fortunately the bullet hit the pavement and blew a chunk of rock out of it instead of hitting any of the humans. Mercilessly, Asami straightened to her full height, grabbed the arm of the man who had fired the shot, and broke his bones with a sickening crack. He roared in pain, his pistol dropping heavily on to the ground. Asami kicked it away, then went after the remaining two people. She tackled one of them and he went down with a grunt. One touch from her glove and he was unconscious, allowing Asami to lunge after the last attacker and shock him, too.

Panting, she got to her feet and turned, asking: "Is everyone okay?" But when she looked at the group, she found herself staring down the barrel of one of the pistols, and all the blood left her face. Both of the engineers had picked up weapons and were pointing them at both Asami and the group of people she was trying to protect. "What are you doing?" she said incredulously. "Put that down!"

The engineers snarled at her, the same snarl that she'd heard the two benders emit on the morning of the housewarming party, and Asami could see in their eyes that they were going to shoot. She was about to die. They were going to put a bullet in her head at point blank and end her life. She was never going to see Korra again. It was over. It was unfair, it was pointless, and it was happening.

But then she heard a loud yelling and a second later the engineers were on the ground—someone had thrown a heavy boulder at their legs, injuring and disabling them. Their pistols went skittering across the street.

Asami stared at the two engineers, her heart still racing, but then found herself enveloped in a familiar bear hug. "Thank goodness you're okay!" said Bolin, hugging her so hard that her back cracked. Opal was just behind him, watching nervously for any other people that might be about to attack them. Seeing them was an enormous relief to Asami. Here were two of the only people in the world she trusted with her life. And it didn't hurt that they were both benders and highly capable fighters. She took a deep breath, drawing comfort from the presence of her friends.

"Thank you for saving us," she said, still a little dazed at how close she'd just come to death. "I can't believe they attacked us."

"You know those guys?" asked Bolin, poking one of the engineers with his toe.

"They're some engineers I hired. We were working together when the fights started. What's happening here, Bolin? Why are all these people rioting? And where did they get those pistols?"

Looking worried, Bolin said, "I don't know. We were doing tryouts and some people barged in to the gym. And a couple of the people we were interviewing started joining in, too."

"We need to get back up top," said Asami. "The tram station isn't far."

"No good," said Opal. "We just came from there. Genly ordered a total quarantine so it's not running."

"Quarantine?" repeated Asami, her heart sinking. "So we're stuck here?"

Everyone standing there looked at each other. In addition to her friends, Asami had now taken responsibility for a bunch of total strangers. How was she going to get everyone to safety if they couldn't take the train out of the lower ring?

"What about the wall between the rings?" suggested one of the strangers. "If we can get to the inner wall maybe we can go to the middle ring on foot."

"That won't work," said Asami. "If there's a quarantine then the wall guards will have orders not to let anyone pass, not even by air." For a long moment conversation became impossible over the sound of pistol-fire.

"We're all going to die here," said Koti. "We're trapped like animals in a city that's being overrun by violent criminals."

Asami glared at her. "We aren't going to die," she said firmly. "We just need to think on our toes."

"How is that going to help?" said Koti viciously. "This isn't some mover where we can positive-think ourselves out of a life-threatening situation!"

"Shut up, Koti," snapped Asami. "If you want to die today then go ahead and hang around here on your own. But _I'm_ going to get us out of the lower ring. You can stay or you can go, but either way you're going to shut up right now."

A silence perforated by gunfire followed as the two of them glowered at one another. Finally, Bolin ventured: "Um, Asami? Don't get mad and yell at me, but how are you going to get us out of the lower ring?"

Turning towards the water plant, Asami said: "We're going to use the tunnel."

* * *

Chen awoke feeling groggy, confused and in terrible pain. Taking inventory of his body, he also discovered that he was totally immobilized. His entire body was encased in stone with only his head free. Ignoring his pain, he struggled in his prison but nothing happened. The stone around him was firm, and possibly even a little too tight. Any strenuous movement that caused him to need to breathe deeper would risk suffocating him. So he remained still, observing everything around him with only his head.

He was still down in the main chamber of the tunnel. There was still a lot of activity around him, but his former Dai Li brothers were no longer using the shaft of the tunnel that led under the city walls. Instead they were congregated around the three entrances that led up to the water plant, unpacking wooden crates and handing the metal things that were inside them to a steady stream of people who were coming and going. Everyone was moving with a kind of methodical, focused efficiency that looked practiced, and no one was talking. It was as if they were communicating telepathically, creating a creepy, high-functioning team of walking marionettes.

 _This doesn't seem right_ , he thought. _What is happening here?_

Escape wasn't going to be possible without help. Normally he would ask his brothers in the Dai Li to help, but now his captors _were_ his brothers. It was a terrible and distressing thought. As he sat there watching his brothers, he could feel his hopes for escape draining away. These were not the men he'd known for years. They were going to let him sit there until he died from thirst or hunger. They had done worse than kill him: They had forgotten him.

It was devastating to think he was going to fail Korra. He'd grown to respect and love the young Avatar. When he and his five remaining brothers had presented themselves in front of her on that day a month ago, he'd expected to feel reverence, loyalty, and perhaps even a little fear under the fulfillment of his servitude. He'd _never_ expected to feel less like he was serving a master and more like he was helping a friend.

And now he was going to let her down by perishing in this cave. The Team had been given clear instructions to get the information and come back alive. At least the others would be able to relay the findings of their mission to Korra. It was impossible to know how much time had passed since he'd been knocked out, but he was willing to bet the others had returned to her by now. They would give her the metal devices and deliver the news of his loss. He wondered how Korra would react. Would she be sad? Would she be angry with him? Would she try to come rescue him?

Nothing good could come of that. If Korra were to come here to save him, she would surely be injured, or worse. The Dai Li were highly trained fighters, and were particularly adept at fighting in enclosed spaces like this cave. The sheer number of them in the cave would be overwhelming. There were at least fifty Dai Li agents here. In fact the more he thought about it, the more concerned he became. He couldn't risk Korra getting herself hurt just for him. He needed to break himself out. And since earthbending wasn't an option, he'd have to come up with another plan.

One of the Dai Li agents came towards him to get a crate off a stack nearby. Chen remembered that his name was Yuu; they'd been brought in to the Dai Li at the same time. The two of them, plus some fifteen other boys in their age group, had bunked in the same underground room for almost five years. "Brother," Chen whispered, trying not to let the others hear him, "you must let me out of this cave."

The agent said nothing.

"Don't you remember me? It is I, Chen. We were together under the lake."

Wordlessly, the agent picked up a heavy crate without even a grunt of effort.

Chen tried again. "Yuu," he hissed. "Yuu, I know you can hear me."

To Chen's amazement, Yuu stopped dead in his tracks.

Hope blooming in his chest, Chen continued: "Yuu, I don't know what is happening here, but I know that you are not yourself. We were members of an elite force. We trusted each other. You had Fortitude, just as I do. You may not feel it anymore, but I know it's still in there. Don't you remember? Don't you feel it within you still?"

Yuu was standing completely still, his back to Chen. But Chen could see that he was beginning to show signs of strain from holding the crate.

"You must find your Fortitude again, Yuu. You must come back and serve the Avatar, who is our only true master."

Slowly, deliberately, Yuu turned and looked at Chen, and Chen was astounded to see that the blank, focused look had gone from his face. Instead he looked confused, incredulous, and scared. When he spoke, his voice was raspy from lack of use. "Yuu," he said. "That was my name. I couldn't remember it. I am Yuu."

"Yes, you are!" replied Chen in an urgent whisper. "You are Yuu, my brother in the Dai Li!"

"And you are Chen, my brother in the Dai Li," said Yuu. Without another word, he dropped the crate and made a downward pushing motion with his hands, and the rock surrounding Chen returned to the floor of the cave. Suddenly freed, Chen collapsed to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Yuu came over quickly to kneel at his side. "I am sorry. I should have warned you."

"It's alright," said Chen, breathing heavily and clutching his ribs. He was pretty sure one of them was cracked, but he hadn't realized it until the stone prison had been removed. The dramatic motion had alerted him to just badly he was injured. "What is happening here, Yuu? Why have our brothers turned to this?"

Shaking his head, Yuu looked around them at the cave. The other Dai Li agents were so busy with their work that they hadn't noticed what was happening with Chen and Yuu. "I'm not sure how it happened. I was with all our brothers, and every day I was getting madder and madder. I wanted more. I wanted money and power, and most of all I wanted to _fight_." His gaze became distant and glazed. "The bloodlust… Brother, I have never felt anything like it. And it only became worse with every passing day, until finally I just… left. And I came here, and I fought. I have no idea how long we have been here fighting."

"You went missing from our numbers about four months ago," Chen told him. "Others left long before."

"Yes, I remember now," said Yuu. "When others joined, they fought too. Sometimes we stole, and for a long time we dug this cave and these tunnels, but mostly we fought. And there were others, too. Non-agents."

Chen nodded. Those must be the gang members which had been known to cause major problems in the lower ring. "What are the metal things?" he asked.

"They are called pistols," replied Yuu. "They are very dangerous. We have to stop them from getting more out of this cave." He looked around frantically. "Can we take them all on?"

It was difficult for Chen to imagine a worse plan than attacking the Dai Li agents in the cavern. "Absolutely not. We would die and all the pistols would end up in the city. How is it that you have come back to yourself? Maybe we can bring them back, too."

"I don't know. I came back when you said my name. It was as if hearing it cleared the fog in my brain. On some level I'd been trying to remember it, but it was gone. Once you said it, I had control again. It brought back my Fortitude."

 _Fortitude_ , thought Chen. That was the key. Dai Li agents possessed the quality which Avatar Kyoshi had called Fortitude. It was certainty. It was sturdiness. It was a steadfast sense of identity. Without it, the Dai Li had lost themselves. It had left them open and vulnerable. The plan was simple: They must restore their brothers' lost Fortitude.

They looked around at their brothers. Strangely, it was much easier for Chen and Yuu to dig the names of their comrades out of the corners of their memories than it was their own. Knowing what they must do, Chen braced himself for the pain of getting to his feet. "Help me with some of these crates," he said. "I have an idea."

Together he and Yuu broke open several of the crates and removed the pistols within. Then Chen metalbent them all together in to one large slab of metal, which he then used to create himself a makeshift armored shirt. The stiff metal worked like a cast, which helped with the pain from his ribs. It still hurt, but it was bearable. Then he and Yuu separated to two sides. Each of them put their hands on an agent's shoulders, looked him in his eyes, and said his name. One by one, they freed each member of the Dai Li. Freed members began to help out, saying the names of all their brothers. Soon the cavern was filled with the murmurings of the confused and ashamed agents.

The stream of people coming in from the city gradually began to notice that the flow of pistols had stopped. They would come down the tunnel, look around blankly, then walk farther in towards the crates. But the Dai Li took offense to this, and as they recovered from their confusion, they began destroying all the remaining pistols in the cavern. Many of the agents made armor out of them as Chen had done. Once all the weapons had been destroyed, citizens no longer came down the tunnel; apparently word had gotten out that all the pistols were gone. But by Chen's estimate, there were still plenty of pistols already above ground, being held by people whose hearts were filled with bloodlust. The Dai Li had only managed to destroy roughly one third of the weapons.

"What do we do now?" asked Yuu. "Is it true that the Avatar has returned?"

"It is the truth, brothers," announced Chen to the rest of the Dai Li. "Our master is in Ba Sing Se again, and the time to serve her is upon us. Those of us who were not taken by the bloodlust have been serving her for weeks. She has tasked us with the protection of this city, and the protection of the woman Asami Sato, who is the Avatar's most loved and trusted person. We are to be the Avatar's eyes, ears and hands."

The newly-freed Dai Li all looked at one another. "Then let us go," said one agent in the center of the crowd. "Let us repent for our failure in our duties to the Avatar."

"Yes," said Chen. "We will _all_ fight for the Avatar. We will be her army."


	20. Chaos in the Palace

**Chapter 20: Chaos in the Palace**

"Well well well," said Saigon, looking around at all the people in the room, "isn't this convenient? I was expecting to have to find both the Avatar and the President and kill you separately, but here you both are. I got two for the price of one."

"Put that down, Saigon," said Korra, trying not to sound absolutely terrified. Her heart was racing so fast and hard that she felt it might jump right up out of her throat. "You have no idea of the consequences of these actions."

"Actually I know the _exact_ consequences of these actions. When I kill you we'll get a new Avatar, one who isn't going to butt in to our business because they'll be a baby. And when I kill the President, we'll be free to stage our coup and rule this city ourselves. Does that sound about right?"

"Rule the city?" said Mako incredulously. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. You're the police department!"

Before any of them could react, Saigon swung the nozzle of the pistol away from Korra and pointed it at Mako. There was a startlingly loud noise like a little explosion as she pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Mako in his side. The force of its impact caused him to stumble backwards in to Genly's desk, knocking over several piles of paper and a photograph of Haku.

Everything happened in slow motion for Korra. She saw Saigon turning the gun on Mako. She saw the bullet hit, she saw him fall to the ground, and she saw the blossoming red stain in his shirt.

Rage like she'd never known before flooded through her, and almost against her will, she entered the Avatar state.

Usually when Korra went in to the Avatar state, she felt a kind of fear that had nothing to do with whatever danger she was facing. An Avatar in the Avatar state was at their strongest, but also their most vulnerable. Zaheer had put her in the Avatar state to end the cycle, and he'd very nearly succeeded. Being killed in this state would be the absolute worst thing that could ever happen to the world. But even that wasn't what frightened Korra about the Avatar state; when in this state, Korra was flooded with a power so intense that she often felt she was barely able to contain it. The power was everywhere. It was in her bones, in her blood, in her muscles, in her spirit. One wrong move and this power might tear her apart. She wasn't entirely sure if it was even a good thing for one person to hold so much power.

But today, Korra felt none of that fear. Today, she felt the power and she loved it, because with this power she was going to destroy the person who had just hurt her friend.

Papers and office supplies and knick-knacks went flying around the office as Korra flooded the room with wind, blowing the three police officers right off their feet and up to the ceiling. Using airbending, she lifted them straight up, ramming them as hard as she possibly could on the hard stone roof. Then she let them drop back down with three loud thuds. All three of them dropped their weapons, and Korra held up her hand and metalbent them towards herself. They flew at her like magnets, but she stopped them right before her. Then she made a squishing motion with her hand and the three pistols became a single harmless ball of metal.

Still in the Avatar state, Korra walked over to the badly-injured Saigon and lifted her roughly to her feet, then slammed her back against the stone wall of Genly's office. "You've made a fatal mistake, Saigon," she said with cold fury, balling Saigon's shirt collar so tightly in her fist that her knuckles were pale white. "I'm going to end you right now."

"Korra," said a weak voice from behind her. "Don't."

Korra turned, keeping her firm grip on Saigon's shirt collar. Mako was sitting with his back against Genly's desk, clutching Genly's suit jacket to his side. Beside him, Genly also had his hands on the jacket, helping him keep it tightly pressed against him to stop the bleeding. "I can't let her go after what she did to you," she said. It was hard for her to speak while in the Avatar state. The feeling of power like a thunderstorm inside of her was a little distracting.

"Not worth it," gasped Mako. His face was pale and clammy; he was clearly in enormous pain.

"He's right," said Genly, peeling back the jacket a little to look at the wound. "You can punish her later. We need you to heal him."

But Korra was having a difficult time letting this go for some reason. She was worried about Mako, but the rage was all-consuming. She turned back to Saigon and regarded her with glowing white eyes. With no small amount of satisfaction, she took in the paralyzing terror in the police chief's eyes.

"Think… Asami…" panted Mako. His head rolled back and made a light thud as it hit Genly's desk.

What did that mean? Korra considered this with a surreal sense of detachment. Did Mako want her to think about Asami? That was easy enough. She pictured Asami's face, her beautiful green eyes and her long, luxurious black hair.

And then she pictured that look of fear she'd seen on Asami's face on the morning of their housewarming party. Korra had been furious about the actions of the police officers, and the escape of the two dangerous gang members. Afterwards, Asami had asked her to calm herself because Korra was scaring her.

If she'd been scared of Korra then, she'd certainly be scared of Korra right now. And Korra could imagine the look of disbelief and horror that Asami would give her when she learned that Korra had taken a life, even as Mako lay bleeding on the ground behind her.

Power drained from her body like air deflating from a balloon as she let herself fall out of the Avatar state. She let go of Saigon's collar and stepped back as she dropped to the floor.

As soon as she'd done that, five more police officers entered the outer office. They were all armed with metal pistols. Korra had just dropped down to an earthbending stance when all five officers suddenly found themselves encased in stone prisons that she had not conjured, unable to even move, let alone fight. The five agents of the Dai Li who had returned from the cave entered the outer office, surveying their handiwork with critical eyes, making sure the restraints were secure. "Sorry we're late" said Zhang. "We got a little held up. There are about a hundred cops with those pistol things in the Palace. They're causing a lot of panic and hurting a lot of people."

"I'll deal with you guys in a minute," said Korra. "Don't go anywhere." Without any further delay, she turned and knelt beside Mako, pulling Genly's jacket away from the wound. "I'm so sorry, Mako. I completely lost my head. How do you feel?"

"Bad," replied Mako through gritted teeth. "Pain."

"We need to get the metal out of you before I can heal you," Korra told him regretfully. "It's going to get worse before it gets better."

Nodding weakly, Mako said: "Do it."

"Bite down on this," said Genly, handing Mako a strap he'd torn off of a leather handbag that belonged to one of his aides.

Korra placed her hand over the wound, reaching out with metalbending, looking for the tiny piece of metal that was buried in Mako's side. Once she'd found it, she adjusted her position so that she'd be drawing the metal out through the same path it had created when it went in. "Okay. On the count of three. You ready?" Mako nodded, and Korra counted: "One, two, three!"

On three, she quickly and forcefully pulled at the bullet, getting it out of Mako in one sharp motion. The wound gushed with renewed blood after the metal had come out, and Korra drew water from the water skin she had attached to her belt. She coated her hand in the water and put her hand over Mako's side and began to heal it. Slowly but surely, the skin stretched to close up the wound and Mako felt sweet relief flood through his body as the pain lessened.

"Alright. That should do it for now. We can get a real healer to take a look at it when all this craziness dies down. Just take it easy for a while, okay? Lie down on one of these couches." Korra could tell that Mako didn't like this idea, but apparently the ordeal had drained him of enough of his energy that he was willing to listen to Korra's advice for once. She and Genly helped support him as he hobbled over to the couch. Once he'd collapsed on to it, Korra leaned down and kissed his forehead. "You're going to be fine, Mako. There will be other fights you can help me with. You can afford to sit this one out."

With a weary chuckle, Mako said, "That's a comforting thought. Thanks."

"You're welcome," replied Korra. Then, businesslike and serious, she straitened and turned to her Balance Team. "We need to protect the people in the Palace. It's our number one priority. We'll split up in to teams of two and check the whole Palace. Stop them by any means necessary, but try not to kill anyone. The best thing to do is metalbend the pistols away from them." The Balance Team nodded their understanding. Korra deployed them in teams of two, assigning herself as Wei's partner. The other two pairs left immediately to begin their assignment.

"Where would you like me?" asked Genly. "I'll help you fight these guys off."

"No," said Korra firmly. "You stay here and do Presidential things. The Balance Team and I have this covered. Besides, someone needs to keep an eye on Mako or else he might try to get up and help, the big doofus."

"Alright, I suppose that's for the best. I am needed here. But please be careful out there, Korra. This city is going to need the Avatar for quite some time yet."

"You've got it, sir," said Korra, giving a little bow. Then she and Wei turned and went out in to the hallway, heading for the entrance hall. She'd given herself that area with the intention of getting out of the Palace as soon as possible. The problem with the police in the Palace seemed like an afterthought to Korra, like a plan to try to get her to forget about the rioting happening in the lower ring. But whatever was masterminding this chaos clearly didn't know just how many hours a day she spent thinking about Asami. The fact that Asami was still down below in the lower ring was like a loud bell ringing in her mind. She needed to get down there. The Balance Team would make quick work of the BSSPD and meet her outside in the courtyard where they usually trained.

The entrance hall was in an elevated state of panic. People were shouting and the sound of running footsteps echoed throughout the chamber. A lot of people were making for the entrance as fast as possible, but other people were clearly injured or helping along injured comrades so their progress was slowed. Korra motioned for Wei to take one side of the room, and she took the other. As she passed a hallway, she saw an officer approaching, his face blank, a pistol pointed right out in front of him. They made eye contact for a split second before the officer fired his weapon. But Korra was still ramped up on adrenaline from her earlier use of the Avatar state, and she was ready for him. With one motion, she pulled rock from the ceiling down on the officer. He took a bad hit on his shoulder at the same moment that he pulled the trigger. The shot went wide and blew a chunk of rock out of the pillar right next to Korra, and the man dropped his pistol. It went sliding across the floor and stopped when it bumped against Korra's foot. She quickly destroyed it with metalbending.

For a second Korra felt the relief of getting out of yet another dangerous situation, but it was short-lived. The crack she'd created in the ceiling of the Earth Palace to dislodge the officer's grip on his weapon had continued to spread. It seemed to shoot like a bolt of lightning right towards the pillar that Asami had inspected a few weeks earlier. With dawning horror, Korra realized she'd triggered the disaster that Asami had been afraid of: The ceiling to the entrance hall was going to crumble.

"Wei!" she cried over the cacophony of sound. "We need to get everyone out of here _right now!_ "

Wei nodded shortly to her and began hustling people out of the Palace. On her side of the Palace, Korra did the same. In just a few seconds she'd cleared out the most dangerous corner, the one under which the roof would surely collapse any moment now. Shouting instructions and encouragements the whole way, she herded the terrified civilians out of the Palace. As they cleared the stone front doors, the earth trembled and then came the booming, grinding sound of the ceiling collapsing. Korra, the last to leave the Palace, turned towards the collapsing builting and bent up a stone wall to shield them in a bone-deep protective instinct.

The crumbling lasted for almost sixty terrifying seconds. When it stopped, Korra and the other people at the top of the steps turned to survey the damage.

The entire entrance hall was leveled to the ground. As the dust settled she could make out the rest of the Palace behind it; though the entire hall had been destroyed, the hallways that led to it were still standing. It was as if someone had decapitated the Earth Palace and left the body intact. Korra could have collapsed with relief. They'd been able to get everyone out of the destroyed room, and everyone inside the building wasn't at risk. Or, at least, they weren't at risk of having the roof crumble on top of them. There were still dozens of cops with pistols inside the building.

Taking charge of the situation, Korra said to all the citizens: "I want you all to go to the Future Industries headquarters and take refuge inside. Do not leave the building until either I or one of the Dai Li tell you it's safe to leave."

"The Dai Li?!" exclaimed several citizens at the same time.

"Yes, the Dai Li. I'm the Avatar, and they serve me now. They are trustworthy."

"No way," said one old man standing near the back of the group. "I've seen them do too many terrible things over the years."

"Look, sir, normally I'd be happy to stand here and talk about this, but I've got a revolution to stop. Maybe you don't trust the Dai Li, but I hope you can at least trust me. Once this is over, I'll explain everything, alright? Now go." Muttering nervously, the crowd began to descend the stairs. Korra turned to Wei and said: "Come on, let's go back and help the others."

Inside the palace, Haku still sat behind the desk talking to Jinora. Ao paced anxiously near the door, keeping an eye out for any possible intruders. They could both hear the loud pistol discharges happening throughout the palace—even without their enhanced fox ears it would had been audible. But Haku remained calm, knowing that the information he was learning from the book Jinora was reading to him from might be the only thing that allowed Korra to rescue the city. Though Jinora had been trying to translate the lion turtle book for many months, it was slow work and she hadn't yet translated the section of the text that they needed. Over on Air Temple Island, Jinora was hunched over its pages, cross-referencing the ancient letters in the lion turtle book against the half-dozen books of kanji that lay open on her desk.

"Okay, I think I've got it," said Jinora. "It's not perfect, but it should do. This is disturbing stuff, Haku."

"Read it to me, please."

"Alright. The section is called 'Corruption." Jinora began to read:

 _In the beginning there was the Tree and the Spirits. All was balanced. The Spirits were Life and Death, Creation and Ruin, Light and Dark, Corruption and Fortitude._

 _They fought but never won._

 _Corruption was greed and uncertainty. When the humans came they were many of Fortitude. But Corruption took those who were vulnerable, and many were vulnerable. Corruption used Time as a weapon. In Time most things became of Corruption._

 _And so Corruption waited, and so Corruption took Huo._

 _But the wise one Tu gave himself to Corruption, using Time to fight Time. But it was not a cure. The cure must come from within. One cannot defeat Corruption. They must defend against the spreading Corruption. If Corruption takes any part of them, it will take all of them._

 _Corruption lives where Tu lived. Tu did not defend against it._

 _The worlds overlap but Tu held Corruption in one, stripping it of half its power. It was cut off and weakened._

"That's the last line," concluded Jinora. "So what do you think?"

"I think you're right—it _is_ disturbing. If we're to believe this text, then there's nothing we can do for Ba Sing Se. The only way to fight Corruption is to not be corrupted in the first place. But Tu was corrupted from the very beginning. All he did was slow Corruption down, and now that it is able to access the spirit world again, it has become more powerful. It can now actively corrupt and take control of human beings who lack the quality of Fortitude." He sighed in frustration. "Anyway, thank you for your help Jinora."

"No problem," replied Jinora. "Please be careful, and call me later to let me know everyone's alright."

"Will do," said Haku. He hung up the phone and looked over the notes he'd taken as Jinora read. One of the lines he'd written was the quote: "One cannot defeat Corruption. They must defend against the spreading Corruption." Why would the author talk about a cure if it was impossible to beat once taken? And was it a translation quirk that the words had changed from "one" to "them"? Or was that intentional? There was something there, something Haku was missing.

Suddenly Ao started yipping madly, and Haku knew someone was coming. Seconds later the door to the office crashed open and a police officer entered the room and pointed his pistol at Haku. Haku jumped to his feet, preparing to fight.

But before he could do anything, Ao leapt up and bit the officer's wrist as hard as he could. The officer roared in pain, dropping the weapon. Ao held on for dear life as the officer tried to shake him off.

Spirits could come and go between the worlds as they pleased. Ao usually projected his image to this world while actually physically remaining in the spirit world. To become corporeal here was very taxing for a spirit, so they did not do it very often. But Ao was decidedly physical now as he attacked the officer viciously. He let go of the officer's hand and tackled him to the ground instead, trying to bite down on his throat.

Haku jumped over the desk as they scuffled to help out his spirit friend, but it was too late. As his feet hit the ground, the officer picked his weapon up with his bloody hand, put the nozzle against Ao's fur, and fired.

Ao yelped in pain and the officer pushed him off his chest, beginning to get to his feet. The fox lay trembling in a heap on the floor.

Furious, Haku grabbed a nearby lamp off the desk and hit the officer over the head with it as hard as he could. The officer dropped like a brick, knocked out.

As he rushed to kneel at Ao's side, Korra and Wei entered the room. "What's going on here? Are you okay?" she asked frantically.

"I'm fine, but Ao's hurt badly," said Haku, reaching out to check Ao's wound. But Ao flinched away from his touch. "Hey, buddy, it's just me. Everything's going to be alright."

As Korra, Haku and Wei watched, something strange began to happen to Ao. Starting from the place where the bullet lay wedged in his lung, he started becoming translucent. From there the translucence spread outward, taking his tail, paws and soon, his head. Before his head became clear, he lifted it and gave Haku a weak little lick.

Then, smoke began to appear from the site of the wound, filling in the space that used to be Ao. It poured out liberally, filling him with the pearly-white substance. Soon he looked like Ao again, only made entirely of swirling, constantly-moving smoke.

Then, exactly like the spirit they'd seen on Varrick's film, Ao popped and released all the smoke in to the air.

And just like that, he was gone.


	21. Escape From the Lower Ring

Chapter 21: Escape From the Lower Ring

Asami peeked carefully around a corner as she waited for Bolin to finish taking his shoes off. Their little group of civilian tagalongs had almost doubled its size as they had made their way towards the water plant. With a group this size they needed as many lookouts as possible, so Bolin had decided to lend his assistance by seismic sensing. Once he had his shoes removed, he tied the laces together and swung them over his shoulder, wiggling his toes on the pavement.

"All set," he said. "Let's move."

"Great," said Asami, and she motioned for the group to keep walking. As they crossed a street in to another back-alley, Asami murmured to Bolin: "I know it isn't the most direct route, but I want to pass by the elementary school on our way to the plant. I want to make sure the kids are okay and bring them with us."

"Are you crazy?" said Koti in a much louder voice. "It's five blocks out of the way!"

"Shut up!" hissed Asami, furious that Koti had been eavesdropping. "Keep your voice down! Are you trying to get us all killed?"

"No, _you're_ trying to get us all killed!" shot back Koti. She turned to the rest of the group. "Are you all hearing this? She wants to take us five blocks out of the way to the stupid elementary school!"

"Oh thank goodness," said one of the followers, a young woman who was still wearing the apron she'd been wearing at work. "My son is there. I was going to go there alone but I'd feel so much safer if we all went."

There was a general mutter of approval that permeated through the crowd. Asami glared at Koti and said, "Some of us are willing to risk our own safety for the safety of others. Got any other stupid objections?"

Koti fumed silently as the group made their way towards the school where Asami had seen children playing earlier. Outside the building they paused to let Bolin determine if it was safe to enter. He slammed his foot, waited, and then declared: "There are definitely adults _and_ children in there, all congregated in one spot. It doesn't feel like anyone is running around or firing pistols. I think we're probably good to go in. But there's…" He trailed off, then stamped his foot again. "Yeah, there are definitely people headed this way. Like, a _lot_ of them. They're near the back entrance of the school."

"Keep an eye on them. Or, a foot, I guess," Asami amended awkwardly. She turned to the rest of the group. "Let's go."

They entered the building and headed towards the place where Bolin could sense the people waiting inside the building. It turned out to be an art classroom. At first Asami thought the clutter and mess was just the regular mess of a children's art room, but she quickly realized that this was messy even by those standards. Chairs were upended, tables were pushed out of the way, and a can of blue paint had fallen over, creating a huge messy blue puddle on the floor.

Crouched in a corner were about thirty children and three adults. Asami recognized two of them immediately. "Ren! Gabi!" She hastily moved across the messy room to approach the group. "I'm so happy to see you! I was worried about you two. Are you alright?"

"We're fine," said Ren as she and her daughter accepted hugs. There was palpable relief in her voice. "I came over here as soon as the fighting started. Most of the other kids left with the rest of the teachers, but we got held up by those two." She pointed at two unconscious people in the other corner. Their guns were lying not far from where they'd fallen. Koti went over and knelt down near the men, checking to make sure they were actually out.

"Mama hit the scary men with the coat rack!" exclaimed Gabi. "She was so brave."

"Wow, that is very brave," agreed Asami. She looked at Ren, who was blushing a little. "Can I talk to you in private?" Ren nodded, and Asami led her out in to the hallway. "The city is in uproar. It's not safe out there. Where did the rest of the students and teachers go?"

"I'm not sure. They wanted to leave the city so I guess they probably went to the tram station."

"The tram isn't running. Genly ordered a total quarantine on the lower ring." Asami looked nervously out a window. From this vantage point the city looked deserted, but Asami knew better. The people who were attacking the city would be stuck in the lower ring, too. They were still out there somewhere.

Looking worried, Ren said: "If we can't get out of the city, our best option might be to wait here until everything blows over."

Just then, Bolin poked his head out of the classroom door. "Asami, we've got trouble. The people outside are about to enter the school's courtyard. If they're going to come in to the school it could be any second now."

Asami swore softly. "Alright," she said, biting her lip. "We can't stay here. I know a way out of the city, but it's not going to be easy. Can you keep the children in line?"

"I suppose we'll have to, won't we?"

Bolin appeared again, bouncing on his toes in nervousness. "Asami, it just got worse! There are more of them, and they're definitely going to come in to the school. We need to go right now."

"Get the kids together. We're leaving." The group went out the front door of the school, forming a protective circle around the children. As they crossed the threshold, Bolin reported that the other group had just come through the back door of the school. Asami turned to Opal. "I need you to do me a huge favor."

"Sure, Asami," replied Opal. "Whatever you need."

"Can you go to the roof of the school and make sure the people entering the school aren't the rest of the kids returning?"

"No problem. Be right back." She took to the air, disappearing over the top of the building. A few seconds later she returned, landing with delicate precision right in front of Asami. "It's not the kids. It's a bunch of people holding pistols."

"Say no more. We're moving, folks," said Asami. Then she began to lead the group in the general direction of the plant.

"Where exactly are we going?" asked Ren in a hushed voice, holding on tightly to Gabi's hand.

"There's a tunnel under the city that will lead us to the countryside," explained Asami. "I can't promise it'll be safe, but it's our only option."

"To be honest, I'm not too worried about it," laughed Ren. "I don't know what it is about you, Asami, but I feel perfectly safe with you."

Asami blushed, thinking about Varrick and Zhu Li following behind her with their cameras. She hoped their microphones weren't powerful enough to have picked that up. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," she said. "I'm going to do everything I can to get us out of this."

They walked as quietly as they could, although one of the kids would occasionally try to make a comment, only to be shushed by one of the adults. Gabi was perfectly calm, taking everything in with an alert, curious eye. Asami had never known her to be this quiet; usually she was trying to talk Asami's ear off. Clearly she understood the direness of their situation and the importance of keeping quiet, but at the same time she didn't seem to be the least bit afraid. The little girl caught Asami watching her and smiled encouragingly. Asami smiled back, thinking that her parents were obviously doing a great job raising her.

At one corner, they encountered four pistol-carrying citizens. Several children screamed as Asami reacted with lightning-quick reflexes. She kicked one of the men in his chest, which caused him to stumble back in to one of his comrades. Taking advantage of their physical contact, Asami activated her glove and shocked both of them at the same time.

Meanwhile, Opal had used an airbending slice to knock the weapon out of one of the other men's hands, and Bolin opened lava up beneath the other, singeing his feet and pant legs. They were quickly dispatched and the group continued on their way.

There were several other encounters like that one as they walked through the city, and each time Asami used her glove to good effect. They were extremely fortunate in terms of injuries; thanks to Bolin, they always got the jump on their enemies. But the closer they got to the plant, the more frequent were the attacks. One of the civilians in Asami's group was badly wounded by a shot in her shoulder, and the effect it had on the children was devastating. Many of them were crying, wailing for their parents. Even Gabi had tears glistening behind her eyes. "It's okay," cooed one of the teachers. "Don't worry, sweethearts. Everything is going to be alright."

Asami wished she shared her optimism. Trying to focus on the task at hand, she took a deep breath, set her shoulders, and forced the group to continue on.

But their good luck continued to fade. Three more citizens were injured, including the young mother wearing the apron. Her son was understandably inconsolable as he watched the others wrap the wound in her arm with her apron and tie it off tightly. To everyone's surprise, Gabi walked up to the boy and hugged him, and gradually the boy began to calm. Gabi released him and he immediately attached himself to his mother, sniffling but no longer crying. Looking at Ren's face, Asami could see a look of pride and love so moving that she felt herself rock on her feet. She could only imagine how proud Ren must be feeling. The child she had raised was turning in to a sensitive, happy and delightful person.

Korra and Asami had spoken about having children, but it seemed a distant dream to them. There were so many things in the world that needed their attention that they couldn't fathom trying to raise a child on top of all that. But watching Ren as she knelt down to hug her daughter, Asami felt an ache she'd never felt before. At that moment, she realized just how badly she wanted a child. And though the arguments against having one right now were considerable, it didn't shake her certainty that emotionally, she was ready whenever Korra was.

She was shaken from her thoughts when a hand clapped down on her shoulder and squeezed painfully hard. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Bolin staring at her with wide, frightened eyes and a ghostly pale face. "We're in trouble," he said under his breath.

"How bad?"

A hard swallow and a little shake of his head made Asami's heart race with fear. "We're about to be surrounded." His voice was rough, as if his mouth had gone completely dry.

"How many?" asked Asami, looking around her for any early signs of the attack. The mobs that wandered through the city moved with eerie silence and precision. They didn't seem to need to communicate with one another at all.

"I don't know, Asami," he replied, his green eyes sparkling as they filled with tears. "I don't know if we're going to make it out of this one."

There had never been a situation where Asami had heard Bolin say anything so pessimistic. Asami knew this must mean the situation was dismal. "Yes, we are. We are, Bolin. Where are they coming from?"

" _Everywhere_ ," he whispered.

"What direction should we run?" Asami's heart was still thumping, her sense of urgency rising with every passing second.

Bolin shook his head. "We can't."

They were standing on one of the corners of a four-way intersection. As Asami looked around, she began to see the people Bolin had spoken of, and understood his fear. From each direction came a group of twenty armed citizens. Eighty attackers. They were hopelessly outnumbered. It seemed their luck had finally run out. Asami couldn't believe how stupid she'd been. Why did she make everyone leave the school? Why did she insist on setting out for the tunnel? Why couldn't she have just found everyone some place to lie low and hide?

Now everything was going to end. For the second time in as many hours, Asami was faced with certain death, only now everyone else in her group was going to die too. She'd gotten them all killed, just like Koti had said she would.

The attackers entered the intersection and pistols were pointed at them from every direction. Asami reached out and grasped Bolin's hand, squeezing as hard as she could. "I'm sorry," she said to the group. Bolin returned the squeeze.

"Not your fault," replied Ren, who was kneeling on the ground and holding Gabi close to her body, her arms wrapped tightly around her.

In these last seconds of her life, she pictured Korra's face, and her claims that she'd never be able to recover from losing Asami. _Don't let that be true_ , thought Asami. _Korra, you deserve to be happy. I'm so sorry_.

With an unbelievably loud noise and a huge lurch of trembling earth, the mob fired at the unarmed civilians. All became darkness and confusion. Asami dropped down to the ground as the shaking made her lose her footing. _Is this what it feels like to be dead?_

But why would pistols make the ground shake? She raised her head just as light returned to her eyes. They'd been encased in a rock bubble, and the top had just been removed by an earthbender. From the hole at the top dropped a man Asami recognized despite his fancy new black metal armor. "Chen?" said Asami incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"Serving my master. Protecting you. Doing my job. Being a hero. Do I need to continue?" he said with a lopsided smile.

"What's going on?" Asami could hear gunfire and the telltale sounds of earthbending from outside their protective bubble.

"My brothers in the Dai Li have regained their Fortitude, and we are here to protect the wife of the Avatar. We will escort you back to the Palace."

Asami could hear the group of civilians muttering about the Dai Li, but she and Chen ignored it. "We can't go back to the Palace until the quarantine is lifted. I want to take these people through the tunnel and out of the city."

"Alright then," replied Chen. "We will escort you to the tunnel. For now, I must check on my brothers." He leapt up and out of the bubble.

A few minutes later, the sounds of fighting tapered off and ended. The rock bubble around them returned to the earth, and Asami's group found that the intersection was destroyed beyond all recognition. Huge chunks of earth had been removed, demolished, and turned in to gravel. Unconscious pistol zombies lay strewn about the area, and the Dai Li agents were walking amongst them, destroying their discarded guns. Bolin whistled and said, "Man, this place is _trashed_! Glad I don't work in construction anymore." He glanced at Asami and added: "No offense."

Asami rolled her eyes and began walking. The Dai Li and the rest of the group followed her, although a dozen agents constantly moved around as they leapt across the rooftops, ran ahead to check the path ahead, and kept watch on their rear . Asami found herself walking next to Chen, who was keeping a wary eye out for danger. "Chen, what did you mean when you said your brothers had found their 'Fortitude?' How exactly did you get them to come back to themselves?"

"We told them their names," said Chen simply.

"Excuse me?"

He sighed, considering how best to explain. "Fortitude is the quality which Avatar Kyoshi looked for in an agent in the Dai Li. It is the ability to retain your own will. My brothers had lost their identities, and thus, their Fortitude. We six who have been training with the Avatar never lost our Fortitude. And we were able to restore it to our brothers."

"So you think that's why you six didn't end up as pistol zombies?" Asami asked.

"Yes. And I believe it is why _you_ have not become one, either."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You may not realize it, but you have Fortitude too. It is obvious to all who meet you. All of the people in this group must possess some measure of Fortitude in order to retain their free will, but you, Asami Sato, have it in spades."

For the second time that day, Asami blushed and hoped the cameras weren't listening.

They continued down the street in silence, Asami turning over Chen's words in her head. How could he say that Asami had more Fortitude than any other regular person? She didn't feel any different from anyone else.

If Fortitude was the ability to retain identity and will, she had to admit that her father was responsible for that. All throughout her childhood, Hiroshi Sato had instilled in her the importance of being strong, independent, and decisive in all aspects of her life. He'd never tried to hold her back or stifle any aspect of her personality. When she'd found that she preferred working with the mechanics in her father's factories over playing with the other children her age, he'd encouraged her to do it. In fact he'd even had a child-sized jumpsuit made special for her with her name embroidered over her heart. And when Asami had wanted to go to college to study even though her father claimed she was ready to begin officially working for Future Industries, he had nonetheless supported her decision.

In all aspects of her life, her father had said that above all, she must be true to herself. And that, in its essence, was Fortitude. It was knowing her identity and not questioning herself. It was confidence, certainty, and sturdiness.

So, all things considered, she had a lot to thank her father for.

The group arrived at the water plant at last. The weary travelers approached the wall of spirit vines, with Asami, Chen, Bolin, Opal and Koti at the front. As they approached the vines parted, and the group marched through and down the well-hidden tunnel beyond. In the main chamber Asami was relieved to see the wreckage of hundreds of pistols.

"I'm afraid this is where my brothers and I must leave you, wife of the Avatar," said Chen.

"You can call me Asami, you know," teased Asami gently.

Chen gave her a friendly smile. "Alright then, I will. But we must part ways here nonetheless. The Avatar has given us a task that only we can perform. We must go back above ground and protect the city."

"I understand. Thank you so much for what you did for us today. None of us would be standing here if it wasn't for you and your brothers."

"It was our honor to assist you," replied Chen, putting his fist against his open palm and bowing.

Asami returned the bow. "Now go and do what you have to do. Be safe out there, okay? Korra will be really mad if you guys don't come back in one piece."

"Why do you think we offered to escort you to the tunnel in the first place? We are well aware of how angry she would be if we did not protect you, Asami." With that, he and the other fifty agents of the Dai Li headed for the tunnels that would bring them back up to the lower ring.

Asami and the rest of the group began walking down the tunnel which would lead under the wall of Ba Sing Se and out in to the safety of the countryside beyond. Lanterns lined the tunnel, and Asami could see the spirit vine that was growing through the wall running along the roof of the tunnel above their heads.

They reached the point in the tunnel where Asami estimated that the wall must be directly above them. Bolin, Asami and Koti stepped aside to let everyone else pass them to make sure they all got out safely. After the last civilian had passed, Koti positioned herself in the center of the tunnel facing Asami, her back towards the rest of the group headed away from the city. "We can go, Koti," said Asami. "Let's get out of this tunnel."

Koti put her hand behind her back, her face blank and emotionless. When she brought her hand back, she was holding a shiny metallic pistol. She pointed it at Bolin and shot him in the leg with a noise so loud that Asami's ears rang. If Bolin had yelled, Asami hadn't heard it.

Then, her face impassive and uncaring, Koti pointed the pistol at Asami.


	22. The Spirit of Corruption

Chapter 22: The Spirit of Corruption

Haku stared at the spot where Ao had just vanished, completely unable to believe what he had just seen. The silence in the room was broken by the occasional sound of pistol discharges and rumbles from earthbending fights happening in the Palace. Feeling a little silly, Korra reached out and touched the spot on the carpet where the blue fox had been laying seconds before. As her fingers brushed the fabric, Haku stood abruptly and went back to the desk.

"Jinora provided me with some more important information," he said, picking up his notes and rifling through them. "I believe we've figured out what is happening in the city."

"Haku, hold on a second. We should talk about what happened to Ao," said Korra, watching him with compassionate, sympathetic eyes.

"No," said Haku firmly. "I don't want to talk about that right now."

"But…"

"Korra," Haku cut her off sharply. "It's important for me to keep it together right now. We're in the middle of a crisis and I need to focus. I cannot afford to… I just can't think about it yet, okay?" He looked steadily back at Korra, silently pleading for her understanding.

Haku and Ao had shared a special connection the likes of which Korra had rarely seen before. A spirit lived inside Korra, but in a way Ao was a part of Haku as well. They'd been forced to fuse to escape a life-threatening situation that could have meant terrible devastation for the spirit world. Ever since that day, Haku and the blue fox had shared obvious physical similarities and a close companionship to boot. After the fusion, Korra could only think of a handful of occasions in the time since then when she'd seen Haku without Ao by his side. Korra had herself once known the loss of her spirit companion, and it had been a terrifying, painful and lonely feeling. And she could imagine why Haku wasn't ready to dwell on the loss just yet. With a short nod, Korra went to look over his shoulder at his notes. "Let's hear what you've got," she said.

"Well, the lion turtle book Jinora found in the spirit world had a chapter devoted to what they call the Spirit of Corruption. The story goes that the lion turtle Tu freed Huo from the grasp of Corruption. Corruption is an ancient spirit as old as the Tree of Time, and it is very powerful. From what it sounds like, there is no way to stop Corruption once it has begun its work."

"What?" said Korra, her ears buzzing after hearing this news. "Are you telling me we're screwed? There's nothing I can do to fix this?"

"That is what the book leads me to believe. However, there is an interesting passage here. 'One cannot defeat Corruption.'"

Korra stared at him. "That's _interesting_ to you?"

"Yes, it is, and I know how strange that must sound to you. But it doesn't seem likely to me that the creators of this book were trying to give instructions on how to fight this ancient spirit. Instead, the book is an historical document on the _nature_ of Corruption. It could be saying any number of things. Yes, it might be telling us we're in a hopeless situation. But it could also be saying that it takes _more_ than one to defeat Corruption. Or maybe it's merely making a statement about the inherent immortality of Corruption, but without any particular commentary one way or another on our current predicament. And above all there's the likelihood that Jinora's translation and our understanding of it is flawed, because what we think of as 'defeat' is not a concept that is typically expressed or valued by spirits. To them, victory and defeat are irrelevant, just as beginning and ends are irrelevant. Why would this book include such a finite statement? Doesn't that all make this passage seem suspect to you?"

"Yes, it does," agreed Korra, "and I'm not just saying that because I desperately hope that we can defeat this."

"Indeed. Well I cannot be sure, but it sounds as though Corruption is able to take over people's wills in time. While its power was halved due to the separation of the two worlds the corruption of Ba Sing Se was delayed for over ten thousand years, but now Corruption is enjoying a large surge of power. And it is finally using that power to take over this city."

Korra frowned. "Our only option is to fight this," she said. "Anything else is unthinkable." She cast her mind to Asami, trapped in the dangerous lower ring. A sense of urgency flooded through her, spurring her need to act. Sitting around and waiting had never been her strong suit, not when her friends and loved ones were on the line. "And we should start right now." She stood up. Wei, who'd been leaning on the wall near the door keeping an eye out, straightened up and prepared to leave. He bent a rudimentary stone prison around the unconscious police officer on the floor.

"You're leaving?" asked Haku, looking back and forth between Korra and the Dai Li agent. "Do you have a plan?"

"Not really, but I have an idea." She hesitated for a second before saying: "Before I went to see Genly, Ao had something he wanted to show me. I'm going to meditate in to the spirit world and see if I can find out what that might have been." She hoped her mention of Ao wouldn't cause Haku's carefully built emotional walls to crumble.

"I see," he said, his face impassive. "I think I will remain here at the Palace. I'd like to check on my brother."

 _Understandable_ , thought Korra. He'd just lost his best friend. It made sense that he'd want to go be with the most important person in his life, his family. "We'll take you there. It's on the way."

The three of them headed to Genly's office, passing right near the wreckage of the entrance hall. "I could hear the rumbling of this collapse from the office," said Haku, taking in the damage as they hurried through the palace, "but I didn't think it would look this bad."

"Yeah," said Korra, flushing with shame. "It was my fault, too. I did something stupid with earthbending and it triggered the collapse."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," said Haku. "The vines have been intruding in to the structural foundation of this room for months. It's probably their fault it happened."

"Maybe, but I definitely triggered it."

"Again, I really doubt that. I suspect that the Spirit of Corruption has managed to corrupt the vines themselves. That's why they're growing so destructively. I think Corruption probably wanted to bring this building down because of what it represents. Genly makes no secret of his tight control over the city. Corruption would be keen to bring down the Palace on top of him so that it could put its own people in charge."

This hypothesis rang true to Korra. She hadn't thought to connect the vines to the events currently taking place in the city, but it made perfect sense to her.

To Korra's surprise, Wei spoke next. "That could be why the vines wouldn't let us enter the spirit wild area near the water plant, too," he said. "Corruption would only allow people it had control over to enter its base of operations. When the rest of the Balance Team and I tried to get in to the chamber we had to wait until someone came by. And then we pinned her to the vines, and the entrance stayed open for us."

"Very astute," said Haku sincerely.

They reached Genly's office, which was still bustling with activity. Mako was sitting up on the couch, and much of his color had returned. But the red stain on his shirt was unsettling to Korra, and she stayed in the office only long enough to make sure he was okay. She was legitimately worried that all the events that had taken place in the last hour might cause her to lose her grip on the Avatar state and accidentally bring the rest of the Earth Palace down around them.

She and Wei earthbent a path through the rubble of the entrance hall and went down the stone steps towards where the other four members of her core Dai Li team were waiting for her. There were also three of the new recruits there, looking ready for action. "Where's everyone else?" she asked.

"They're residents of the lower ring," said Yi, a young female waterbender. "They must not have made it out before the quarantine."

"That's a bummer," said Korra, chewing on her lip. "This is a pretty barebones crew. But you know what they say—it's quality over quantity. Everyone follow me, please."

Meditating in to the spirit world wasn't exactly dangerous, but it would leave her body completely vulnerable while her spirit was out of town. The place she did this needed to be private, safe, and defendable. Korra knew the perfect place.

As she suspected, the police station was completely deserted. Its ridiculous golden dome sparkled in the sunlight. They climbed the steps and went inside. The place was in disarray. Apparently Corruption's battle call had necessitated a sudden and hectic departure. The ceiling had been completely covered by spirit vines, which Korra now understood meant that Corruption was hard at work in this building. A platinum door in the back of the station that Korra hadn't noticed last time she'd been there stood ajar. Out of curiosity, she went over to check it out.

It looked like a storage closet. There were shelves and shelves of random nick-knacks, weapons, and questionable substances. Korra guessed this must be their evidence locker. Sitting on the floor of the locker was a wooden crate that the members of the Dai Li recognized. "Those are the boxes the pistols were packed in," Wei told Korra. "They must have brought one up here before all of this chaos started."

Thinking about this made several things click in to place in Korra's mind. The pistols, an invention of Cah-Bage Corp, must have come to be possessed by the BSSPD after Lau Gan-Lan's arrest. Gan-Lan was known to have several factories and warehouses outside the walls of Ba Sing Se. The tunnel must have been dug out specifically for the purpose of transporting them covertly in to the city. Korra had no idea Gan-Lan had built so many of the infernal weapons. It unnerved her to think that the BSSPD had been planning this for so long. In fact, they may even have been planning this since before Cah-Bage Corp and Sen Inc had begun building the Sports Utility Mobiles, the business venture that had landed Gan-Lan in jail. Several people had told Korra that the BSSPD was corrupt while she'd been attending the constitutional convention. It could be that Corruption had been using them the entire time.

Setting those thoughts aside, Korra stepped in to the evidence locker and sat cross-legged on the floor. "I need you to protect me while I do this, because I won't be able to protect myself," she said to her Team. "I'll try to be as quick as I can."

The Balance Team nodded their understanding, and Korra closed her eyes, feeling Raava's warmth flooding her as she entered the serene state that allowed the separation of her spirit and her body. Then she projected her spirit in to the other world.

She found herself standing on a desolate field the likes of which she'd never seen in the spirit world. Most things in the spirit world were colorful and filled with life, but this place looked like a banana peel that had been left sitting out for several days. Everything was brown and droopy. Trees that may once have been glorious pines now looked like weeping willows. The grass was coarse and it crunched under her feet as she moved. There didn't seem to be any signs of life. Korra looked around, wondering if maybe she should go try to find Iroh. But then she heard a familiar, faint yip. It sounded like it had been carried to her from a great distance by the wind, but Korra could have sworn the sound had come from Ao.

But she didn't see anything or anyone nearby. The yip came again and she was able to pinpoint what direction it was coming from. She whirled around to see if she could spot the fox, but instead, she saw something that made all the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Coming towards her through the grass was a massive, slithering black spirit. It looked like a snake, except that it had thousands of legs that wiggled incessantly as the beast moved. There was something grotesque and disturbing about the way it moved. It was as though its body was broken in to sections and each section was moving independently of all the others. The thing was a chaotic assault to Korra's eyes, and yet she couldn't look away. Every blade of grass it touched seemed to become even uglier and more wilted than it had been before. Its eyes were bright red, and it was staring right at Korra. It was easily the single most disgusting and horrifying thing she'd ever seen.

"The Avatar," hissed the beast. "How fun."

Heart pounding, Korra said: "What are you?"

"You already know. You're not the brightest Avatar, though, so maybe you don't. After all, you did leave those portals open. I suppose I should be thanking you, really. Thanks to you, I finally have the city that accursed, abhorrent lion turtle stole from me."

"It isn't your city," said Korra, sounding much braver than she felt. "As long as there are still people in Ba Sing Se that you can't corrupt, it'll never be yours."

"Ignorant child. I'm not afraid of you or your kind. I have nothing to fear from the Avatar. I've lived three times as long as your entire line. I've been here since the very beginning. What hope do you have against me?" The Spirit of Corruption's voice was possibly worse than its appearance. To Korra, it sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

"You _should_ fear me. You cannot corrupt me, spirit. You'll _never_ be able to get me."

The spirit raised the front half of its body off the ground so that hundreds of its tiny legs were wiggling grotesquely in the air. The underside of the creature was covered in shiny black scales. "I wouldn't be too sure of that, child," said Corruption, and then it lunged at Korra. But it stopped just as its face brushed Korra's, staring at her directly with its terrible red eyes.

Pain like Korra had never felt before came over her.

She'd felt plenty of pain in her time. Zaheer's poison had been so unbelievably debilitating that she sometimes still had nightmares. On another occasion she'd felt Tarlok take control of her blood, a painful and degrading experience.

But this was something else entirely. It was like the pain wasn't coming from her body, but from inside of her very soul. It was everywhere, and it worsened with every beat of her heart.

Then, inside of her, she heard a tiny little voice. "You can make it go away."

Oh, how badly Korra wanted to make it go away.

"Just give in. It will go. You will never hurt again."

Yes, thought Korra. Yes, that sounds lovely.

"Let it happen. It will go away. You will get everything you want."

Another voice came to Korra, one she knew as well as she knew her own. _Don't_ , said Raava. _Don't let it take you._

But it hurts, thought Korra.

"It hurts so badly," said the strange voice. "But you can make it go away."

 _You already have everything you want._

Raava's words brought a picture to her mind with sharp, bright clarity. It was an image of Asami, standing before her at the altar, glowing with her happiness and her beauty and her love for Korra. I already have everything I want, thought Korra through her haze of pain.

 _You must return to the material world immediately, Korra. You must return to her. You cannot win this battle of wills. Not here._

I must return to her, thought Korra. Focusing as hard as she possibly could, Korra ripped herself out of the spirit world in an agonizing rush of white-hot pain. For a moment she blacked out.

A sudden rush of icy-cold salt water returned her to consciousness. She had just jumped in to the ocean. Her head broke the surface and she looked up at the island she'd just left, trying to make sense of what she was looking at. Taking a deep breath, she dived back under and swam around the island. Then, she was startled when the "island" opened its eyes. Without warning something moved under her, the flow of the displaced water forcing her above the surface of the ocean.

She found herself standing on a massive, clawed fin, looking in to the face of the very last living lion turtle.

Needing its wisdom, she asked it a question, and its rumbling voice supplied a reply:

" _The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed. Since beginning-less time, darkness thrives in the void, but always yields to purifying light._

 _In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements, but the energy within ourselves. To bend another's energy, your own spirit must be unbendable, or you will be corrupted and destroyed._ "

The lion turtle placed one claw over her forehead and another over her heart, and her world became flooded with green light.

When she next opened her eyes, she was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the evidence locker, her heart racing as if she'd just run fifteen miles. Raava had sent her another message. She'd relived a memory of Aang.

Wei looked up as he realized she'd returned. "Any luck?" he said, and everyone else turned to look at her.

"Lots of it," replied Korra, getting to her feet. "I know what we're dealing with, and I know how to fight it. I'm going to need all the help I can get. Let's move."

"Where are we going?" asked Wei as she led them out of the station at a brisk walk.

"Back to the Palace. We need more benders."

Things were only marginally calmer at the Earth Palace than they had been when they'd left. There was no more gunfire, but aides were hard at work earthbending the wreckage of the entrance hall in to a smoother path for people to walk on. Even though it was only half finished, people were still rushing across the hall, stepping over rubble on their way from one office to another as they tried to deal with the city emergency. There were a total of five earthbenders working on the project, which was a little disappointing to Korra. To execute her plan she wanted to enlist as many benders as possible. Even fifty might not be enough for what they had to do.

She made a beeline for Genly's office, ignoring the stares of people as they passed. She could guess what they were thinking. They were wondering why the Avatar was hanging around in the upper ring when she was clearly needed in the lower ring. Well, she thought, they'd have their answer soon enough.

The President's office was still very busy. Mako had gotten up off the couch and was once again assisting Genly, and Haku was sitting across from Genly's desk trying to keep busy by arranging help in the reinforcing of the wall that divided the lower and middle rings. When Korra entered the room, everyone stopped their work and looked up. "I have a plan," she announced, and it solidified her grasp on their attention. Several people who had been seated, including both Genly and Haku, got to their feet.

"Did you find out what's happening?" asked Genly.

"Yes, but I don't have time to explain it right now. What I need from you is benders. I need every single bender in the entire upper ring to come and meet me in the courtyard."

"What?" said Mako, raising his eyebrows. "Why? Are you planning to attack the lower ring?"

"No. It's too complicated to explain more than once, so I need you to trust me and gather the people. I believe I can fix this, but I can't do it alone. It doesn't matter what element they bend, as long as they are benders."

Genly nodded. "Alright then. I'll use the emergency PA system to make an announcement." He picked up his telephone and punched the button for the overhead speakers. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please. This is President Genly Ai. As you are probably aware, there is rioting in the lower ring. The Avatar is here to help, but she requests that every able-bodied bender of any element in the upper ring please report to the courtyard outside the Earth Palace immediately. I beg of you to respond to her request. Our city is in great danger, and all of us can come together to save it. Thank you very much." He hung up the phone and looked around his office. All of his aides were still lingering nervously and listening to the conversation. "Well? What are you all waiting for? You heard what the Avatar said; head on down to the courtyard."

"You mean us, too?" asked one aide, looking at Korra.

"Absolutely," replied Korra. "I need every bender I can get."

"Including me," added Genly. "Even I will be joining Korra in the courtyard."

The aides looked frightened but determined and Korra appreciated the readiness with which they accepted the request. She, Mako, Genly, Haku and the members of the Balance Team all left the office. In the hallways they were joined by Therem and a bunch of other benders, and there were a decent number of people coming in to the courtyard from the other parts of the upper ring. Outside the Palace everyone mingled and murmured, eyeing Korra with a mix of curiosity, apprehension and fear. She couldn't blame them for feeling any of those emotions. After all, for all they knew, the Avatar might draft them in to her army.

She waited ten minutes, giving everyone in the upper ring enough time to get to the courtyard. By her count there were about seventy-five people there. When she'd decided they weren't likely to get any more people, she went up two steps on the Earth Palace's staircase and raised her hand for silence. She'd never seen a crowd stop talking so fast.

"Thank you for coming," she said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "As you all know, I am the Avatar. My name is Korra. I've gathered you here because I believe you all can help me stop what is happening in this city. With me today is spiritual expert Haku Ai, and he has discovered that there is an ancient spirit corrupting the city of Ba Sing Se. This spirit pre-dates the creation of the Avatar cycle significantly. It is very old and very powerful. I faced it in the spirit world and it nearly destroyed me.

"But Haku's research has led me to believe that facing the spirit on its own home turf is not ideal. I believe that if I brought the spirit in to this world, I could defeat it.

"That's where all of you come in," continued Korra, looking around at all the benders. "There is an ancient technique that we have discovered from the same place where we learned about this spirit. With this technique, humans in this world can use something called energybending to forcibly drag a spirit out of the other world and in to our own. But this is a very difficult thing to do. Only I, the Avatar, can actually perform energybending, however all humans possess the quality called energy and thus are bendable.

"Because you cannot use energybending, I will instead have to tap in to all of your energy in order to have the strength to bring the spirit here."

There was a wave of uncomfortable chatter from the group. "'Tap in' to our energy?" asked one man. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"In the wrong hands, yes it absolutely is. But I hope you can all believe me when I tell you that you have absolutely _nothing_ to worry about on that front. I am the Avatar. It is my job to maintain balance. In the ten thousand years since the creation of the Avatar cycle, there has never been an Avatar who intentionally hurt a group of innocent people like this one, and I don't plan to be the first."

This seemed to convince them, and Korra continued: "However, there is something you will have to worry about, and that is the spirit itself. I believe that when we successfully bring the spirit here, it will be in a great deal of pain. It is absolutely essential that as soon as we get the spirit here, you must leave _immediately_. Do not waste any time. As soon as you know the task is finished, I need you to get as far away from here as you possibly can. That's why I've only asked benders to come help, because you all can get away much faster than non-benders. Do you understand?"

"What if we want to help you fight?" asked a young woman near the front of the group. "If some spirit is trying to take over this city, it'll have to get through me, first!"

"You took the words right out of my mouth," laughed Mako. "Korra, you know I'm not about to leave you alone to fight some crazy powerful spirit. I thought we'd established this already."

Korra wanted to fight them on this, but every second that passed was one more second that Asami was in danger. Sighing with exasperation, she said, "Fine. I guess if you want to fight, I can't stop you. Now let's get started. Please arrange yourselves in a circle and take the hands of your neighbors." With so many people there, the circle was huge. This was another benefit to having a lot of help for this task—when Corruption showed up in the middle of the circle, the humans would have a much better head start on their escape. "Now, I want you all to close your eyes and concentrate on me. Put all of your consciousness on me. Think of nothing else. Let your mind and your body become separate. Exist only in your mind, and focus your mind only on me."

As she spoke, she reluctantly called up the image of that terrible spirit she'd met in the spirit world. She mentally painted its hundreds of tiny legs, its black, scaly underbelly, its long, slithering body, and its blood-red eyes like slits upon its face. She recalled that hideous voice with its calm, unworried taunting. Once the picture was clear, she held it in her mind and tapped in to her own energy, seeking out the location of the spirit. It was easy to find; the wilted place where she'd met Corruption in the spirit world was parallel to Ba Sing Se. It was the same place in which the spirit had lived since before the lion turtles Huo and Tu attempted to contain it.

Now armed with the knowledge of the whereabouts of the monster, she set to work reaching in to everyone else's spirits. The members of the Balance Team were already succeeding in offering Korra their energy, which wasn't surprising considering they'd practiced the technique before. But the other civilians were slow to catch on. One by one, they managed to contribute to the growing pool of spiritual energy that would allow Korra to grab Corruption. She had no idea how long it had been, but finally she felt ready to give it a shot.

She projected the energy towards Corruption and felt it wrap around its disgusting body. Then, she began to pull.

It was like trying to pull down a stone building without earthbending. It was like trying use a bucket to empty out the ocean itself. It was like trying to hold on to a kite string in the middle of a tornado. It was like using a single ice cube to cool down a volcano. It was impossible. It was foolish. It was the dumbest idea Korra had ever had. What could possibly have made her think she would ever be able to defeat Corruption?

But Korra thought of what was happening in the lower ring, the lives that were in danger. She thought of the city that needed her in its time of great peril. And most of all, she thought of Asami, her wife, partner, and very best friend. Asami believed in her abilities and had every faith in her success. There was no way Korra was going to let Asami down.

With that thought, she pulled as hard as she possibly could on Corruption's energy. She pulled until it actually hurt her, and then she pulled harder. And with a great burst of energy from Korra, Corruption's yell of pain carried to her ears in the stone courtyard as Corruption came flying through to the material world.

Korra opened her eyes, relieved to see many people already fleeing from the horrifying sight that had just appeared in front of them. Corruption lay in the center of the circle, momentarily stunned with pain. But that only lasted a couple of seconds. It soon regained its equilibrium and turned to stare at Korra. "You will pay for that, Avatar," it hissed in its bone-chilling voice.

Preparing for an attack, Korra dropped down to a fight stance. But instead of lunging for Korra, it turned its head and stared with its red eyes at Mako.

Mako's body went stiff as a board. Then, without warning, he rounded on Korra and began attacking her mercilessly, his fists alight with fire.

"Mako!" she cried, jumping back as Mako advanced on her. "Stop it right now!"

"Oh, that won't work," laughed Corruption. "You see, I'm like tooth decay. Once it's gone past a certain point, the only option is to pull the tooth. You'll just have to kill him to make him stop, I suppose. Oh, and all of these people, too." Within seconds, he'd commandeered a dozen more benders for his own personal army.

"He must be more powerful when he's actually personally corrupting someone," said Haku through gritted teeth. He was busy fighting off a bender that looked ready to take his blood.

"If he can bypass Fortitude, no one is safe," said Wei, coming to help Haku in his battle.

"Look, I have a plan," Korra said as she used airbending to knock away some attackers. "But if it doesn't go well… Tell Asami that I'm sorry, and that I love her."

" _What_?" Genly stopped fighting for a moment to stare at her. "What are you talking about?"

"I think I can fix everything, but it's going to be really dangerous for me. Just promise me you'll tell her, okay?"

"Alright," agreed Genly anxiously. "Be careful."

"I always am." Without another word, Korra made herself a catapult with earthbending and vaulted over the heads of several benders, landing right in front of a startled Corruption. Swallowing her disgust, she placed one hand on its head and another farther down on its body. She wasn't sure if Corruption had a heart, but she had to try this anyway. Before the spirit could react, she went in to the Avatar state and reached in to Corruption's energy.

After Amon had taken away the bending of most of Republic City's benders, Korra had offered her energybending services to anyone who wanted their bending back. It had taken several months, and over that time she'd become something of an expert on energybending. It was this expertise that had allowed her to share her connection to Raava with Asami on that night during the convention when Asami was visiting Ba Sing Se. She'd learned how to use a gentle touch with people so that she wouldn't accidentally harm them spiritually. She'd learned the limits of her powers, and had gradually built up her skills until it took hardly any effort at all to restore bending to someone. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Korra was the best energybender to walk the earth in over ten thousand years, if you didn't count the last lion turtle. Spiritual energy was familiar to her; she could judge someone's character by the quality of their energy.

But Korra had never encountered energy like this. Where usually energy was bright and pure, Corruption's energy was deep, endless, and inky black. It was unexpected and disturbing and it nearly caused Korra to lose her bearings. Recovering quickly, she flared her own energy and pushed on Corruption's, trying to force it to bend.


End file.
